Ask Mr. Answer Person: Can the owners of the Old Stage Road property sue the City of Decorah if the city council turns down the Menards proposal?"

Posted: Tue, Sep 25, 2018 2:06 PM

(Earlier decorahnews.com reported, "Menards representative Tyler Edwards told city council members Menards would not sue the city if it rejected the rezoning. "We're on the same team (as the city)," he promised." That led Brian to e-mail Mr. Answer Person: "It's all well and good that Menards says it will not sue the City of Decorah over the Old Stage Road property, but what about the landowners? If I owned the property, given the results of the two flood studies, I would be hiring a lawyer and suing the city. What is the city's liability if this doesn't pass?"):

Mr. Answer Person says: "Anyone can sue anyone else over any issue. The real question is, 'Could such a lawsuit be successful?' The answer to that question is that there's very little chance such a lawsuit would succeed. First of all, Menards made its purchase of the property dependent on receiving rezoning for the property, so the seller understood they wouldn't get any money if the rezoning request fails.

Secondly, and more importantly, the City of Decorah--and other municipalities in Iowa--are allowed to make decisions on zoning under a concept called 'Home Rule.' As a matter of fact, 2018 is the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Home Rule Amendment by the citizens of Iowa. The 1968 vote changed the state constitution so that local government powers are derived from the State Constitution, NOT from the legislature. One of those guaranteed powers, of course, is the power of creating zoning districts. In other words, the City of Decorah would be within its rights to deny a rezoning request--and any lawsuit filed contesting those rights would face a huge uphill fight."