May a city regulate docks under Minn. Stat. 412.221, subd. 12? City of Minnetonka v. Wartman, 1998 WL 62002 (Minn. App. 1998)(Unpublished). Appellant, an owner of unimproved property on Lake Minnetonka, tore down and rebuilt a dock on the property. The City of Minnetonka ordered the appellant to remove the dock under an ordinance prohibiting an accessory use unconnected to a permitted use. The Court denied Wartman's request for declaratory relief, noting the express authority of cities to regulate docks found at Minn. Stat. § 412.221, subd. 12 (1996). Wartman argued that the Lake Minnetonka Conservation District should be found to have exclusive authority to regulate docks on the lake, invoking Welsh v. City of Orono, which found exclusive DNR jurisdiction to regulate dredging of the lakebed. That holding, the Court reasoned, rested on the fact that dredging affects the entire lake. Conversely, a dock abuts land within a given city and is appropriately controlled by the City. Finally, the Court denied Wartman's request to amend his petition to assert a takings claim. The Court advised that this would serve no purpose; the zoning ordinance was enacted fur years before Wartman bought the property, and hence any hardship was self-imposed.
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