ROCKVILLE, Minn. - The house will stand.
A September order to remove a Rockville lake home for zoning violations was reversed in a court ruling issued Tuesday, Feb. 20.
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Thomas and Holly Ruether sued neighbor Kathleen Mimbach and her grandson, Matt Mimbach, after the Mimbachs renovated their Grand Lake home.
According to the Ruethers, the Mimbachs misrepresented the expansion project on permit applications and violated city regulations.
A judge ordered the removal of the Mimbachs' home in September for violating the city ordinance. The Mimbachs filed motions to amend the judge's order.
On Tuesday, Judge Shan C. Wang found that a new ordinance enacted by the city of Rockville applies retroactively and allows the expansion of the lakeshore home.
The new ordinance clarifies the previous zoning regulations and "manifestly expressed" the ordinance that the court based its original judgment on was "interpreted in a way that was not originally intended by the City," according to the ruling.
In his decision, Wang acknowledged the Ruethers suffered "great and irreparable harm." Because of the new ordinance, however, they are unable to show they suffered harm due to an unlawful expansion.
The new Rockville ordinance was issued Dec. 13, according to court records.
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"This Court does not lightly rescind a judgment previously entered on the merits of the case," Wang wrote, "particularly where a separate judicial officer took the testimony of the witnesses and independently weighed their credibility."
The problem is further complicated, said Wang, by the reality that even if the Mimbachs were forced to remove the home, they could rebuild it in the same way, but without the lakeshore setback violation, and remain in compliance with city regulations.
The Mimbachs' misrepresentation of the project and their failure to listen to warnings of potential violations, Wang said, "do not constitute so great an injustice so as to bar applicability of recent legislation."
Wang said the removal of the entire building, which was originally ordered, was disproportionate to the "minimal level of severity" of the violation. It is unequitable, he said, to sustain the original judgment.
The Mimbach home remains in violation of lakeshore setback rules. The deck extends less than two feet into the lakeshore setback, and the judge ordered that to be corrected.
Thomas Jovanovich, the Mimbachs' lawyer, said a timeline was not set to fix the deck, but the Mimbachs will comply with the order. "Katie was ecstatic," Jovanovich said, noting that she has lived on Grand Lake her entire life.
The attorney for the Ruethers could not be reached for comment.
