Court Opinion

ID: 9719975
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:11:40.302269+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:11.950798
License: Public Domain

PAUL H. ANDERSON, J.
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. I would remand this matter to the Renville County Board of Commissioners for the limited purpose of permitting the board to articulate the information it considered and the reasons for its decision. I agree with our general rule that we are “reluctant to allow local boards an opportunity after the fact to substantiate or justify earlier decisions.” Earthburners, Inc. v. County of Carlton, 513 N.W.2d 460, 463 (Minn.1994). I further agree with the majority that reaching a resolution of this case is complicated by the fact that the county failed to record its proceedings and then compounded this problem by failing to correctly articulate the reason why the proceedings were not recorded.
Nevertheless, two wrongs do not make a right. It is wrong for us, based on the record before us, to summarily order the board to issue the conditional use permit. Two properly constituted local boards, the Renville County Planning Commission and the Renville County Board of Commissioners, voted to deny the permit based upon “health risks.” Thus, we do know that these boards were concerned about health risks associated with the activity to be permitted under this permit. But here, as in White Bear Rod and Gun Club v. City of Hugo, 388 N.W.2d 739, 742 n. 4 (Minn. 1986), we are “left in the dark” about the specific reasons why the board concluded that health risks mandated denial of the permit. Under these circumstances, it is critical for us to know what those reasons were before ordering that the permit be issued. Therefore, we should remand this matter to the board for the limited purpose of permitting the board to articulate *897the information it considered and the reasons for its decision.