Skip to main content Skip to office menu Skip to footer
Capital IconMinnesota Legislature

Office of the Revisor of Statutes

462.353 AUTHORITY TO PLAN; FUNDS; FEES; APPEAL.
    Subdivision 1. General authority. A municipality may carry on comprehensive municipal
planning activities for guiding the future development and improvement of the municipality
and may prepare, adopt and amend a comprehensive municipal plan and implement such plan
by ordinance and other official actions in accordance with the provisions of sections 462.351
to 462.364.
    Subd. 2. Studies and reports. In exercising its powers under subdivision 1, a municipality
may collect and analyze data, prepare maps, charts, tables, and other illustrations and displays,
and conduct necessary studies. A municipality may publicize its purposes, suggestions, and
findings on planning matters, may distribute reports thereon, and may advise the public on the
planning matters within the scope of its duties and objectives. The commissioner of natural
resources must provide the natural heritage data from the county biological survey, if available, to
each municipality for use in the comprehensive plan.
    Subd. 3. Appropriation and contracts. A municipality may appropriate moneys from any
fund not dedicated to other purposes in order to finance its planning activities. A municipality
may receive and expend grants and gifts for planning purposes and may enter into contracts with
the federal and state governments or with other public or private agencies in furtherance of the
planning activities authorized by sections 462.351 to 462.364.
    Subd. 4. Fees. (a) A municipality may prescribe fees sufficient to defray the costs incurred
by it in reviewing, investigating, and administering an application for an amendment to an official
control established pursuant to sections 462.351 to 462.364 or an application for a permit or other
approval required under an official control established pursuant to those sections. Except as
provided in subdivision 4a, fees as prescribed must be by ordinance. Fees must be fair, reasonable,
and proportionate and have a nexus to the actual cost of the service for which the fee is imposed.
(b) A municipality must adopt management and accounting procedures to ensure that fees
are maintained and used only for the purpose for which they are collected. Upon request, a
municipality must explain the basis of its fees.
(c) Except as provided in this paragraph, a fee ordinance or amendment to a fee ordinance
is effective January 1 after its adoption. A municipality may adopt a fee ordinance or an
amendment to a fee ordinance with an effective date other than the next January 1, but the
ordinance or amendment does not apply if an application for final approval has been submitted
to the municipality.
(d) If a dispute arises over a specific fee imposed by a municipality related to a specific
application, the person aggrieved by the fee may appeal under section 462.361, provided that the
appeal must be brought within 60 days after approval of an application under this section and
deposit of the fee into escrow. A municipality must not condition the approval of any proposed
subdivision or development on an agreement to waive the right to challenge the validity of a fee.
An approved application may proceed as if the fee had been paid, pending a decision on the
appeal. This paragraph must not be construed to preclude the municipality from conditioning
approval of any proposed subdivision or development on an agreement to waive a challenge to the
cost associated with municipally installed improvements of the type described in section 429.021.
    Subd. 4a. Fee schedule allowed. A municipality that collects an annual cumulative total
of $5,000 or less in fees under this section may prescribe the fees or refer to a fee schedule in
the ordinance governing the official control or permit. A municipality may adopt a fee schedule
under this subdivision by ordinance or resolution, either annually or more frequently, following
publication of notice of proposed action on a fee schedule at least ten days prior to a public
hearing held to consider action on or approval of the fee schedule. A municipality that collects a
cumulative total in excess of $5,000 in fees under this section may prescribe a fee schedule by
ordinance by following the notice and hearing procedures specified in this subdivision.
    Subd. 5. Certify taxes paid. A municipality may require, either as part of the necessary
information on an application or as a condition of a grant of approval, an applicant for an
amendment to an official control established pursuant to sections 462.351 to 462.364, or for a
permit or other approval required under an official control established pursuant to those sections
to certify that there are no delinquent property taxes, special assessments, penalties, interest, and
municipal utility fees due on the parcel to which the application relates. Property taxes which are
being paid under the provisions of a stipulation, order, or confession of judgment, or which are
being appealed as provided by law, are not considered delinquent for purposes of this subdivision
if all required payments that are due under the terms of the stipulation, order, confession of
judgment, or appeal have been paid.
History: 1965 c 670 s 3; 1982 c 415 s 1; 1996 c 282 s 3; 1997 c 2 s 3; 2001 c 207 s 11; 2003
c 93 s 1,2; 2004 c 178 s 1; 2007 c 57 art 1 s 154

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes