Court of Appeals 09.01.09

The Court orders Chisago County to issue a CUP for a compost site, finding its rejection of the application arbitrary.  The key factor here is the generally positive staff reaction to the proposal.  The standard (at least here, anyway) isn’t so much whether the governing body states lucid reasons for denial, but whether it could have approved the permit with the facts on record.  In this light, favorable staff reports and a decision not to require an EAW guarantee reversal of any Board findings that the project is environmentally harmful.  The governing body will be boxed in by the record handed to it.