Filed: Oct. 26, 2015
Latest Update: Oct. 26, 2015
Summary: UNPUBLISHED OPINION This opinion will be unpublished and may not be cited except as provided by Minn. Stat. 480A.08, subd. 3 (2014). WORKE , Judge . Appellant City of Elk River challenges the district court's denial of injunctive relief to preclude respondents from allowing people to permanently reside at their campground, arguing that the district court erred by concluding that Minn. Stat. 327.14 (2014) does not prohibit residency at the campground. We affirm. FACTS Respondent Wapi
Summary: UNPUBLISHED OPINION This opinion will be unpublished and may not be cited except as provided by Minn. Stat. 480A.08, subd. 3 (2014). WORKE , Judge . Appellant City of Elk River challenges the district court's denial of injunctive relief to preclude respondents from allowing people to permanently reside at their campground, arguing that the district court erred by concluding that Minn. Stat. 327.14 (2014) does not prohibit residency at the campground. We affirm. FACTS Respondent Wapit..
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UNPUBLISHED OPINION
This opinion will be unpublished and may not be cited except as provided by Minn. Stat. § 480A.08, subd. 3 (2014).
WORKE, Judge.
Appellant City of Elk River challenges the district court's denial of injunctive relief to preclude respondents from allowing people to permanently reside at their campground, arguing that the district court erred by concluding that Minn. Stat. § 327.14 (2014) does not prohibit residency at the campground. We affirm.
FACTS
Respondent Wapiti Park Campgrounds, Inc., a 52-acre campground owned by respondent Lorraine White, trustee for the Lorraine M. White Trust, is located within appellant City of Elk River.
This is the second appeal arising out of an ongoing dispute between respondents and the city over the operation of Wapiti Park. In the first appeal, the supreme court resolved the land-use aspects of the parties' dispute, holding that Wapiti Park is a nonconforming use and did not lose that status by applying for a conditional-use permit, but that the city could require Wapiti Park to obtain an interim-use permit before using a building that was replaced after a fire. White v. City of Elk River, 840 N.W.2d 43, 51-52, 55 (Minn. 2013). The supreme court identified four methods in which the city could seek to terminate Wapiti Park's nonconforming use and noted that the city had not undertaken any of those methods. Id. at 53.1 The supreme court remanded the case to the district court for "further proceedings on . . . remaining issues, including those issues raised in the City's motion for summary judgment pertaining to the City's counterclaims against Wapiti Park." Id. at 56.
Following remand, the city moved for summary judgment on its counterclaim alleging that respondents were violating Minn. Stat. § 327.14 by allowing campers to permanently reside at Wapiti Park. There is no factual dispute that Wapiti Park has allowed permanent residents for years. The city noted that Wapiti Park is licensed as a "recreational camping area" as defined in Minn. Stat. § 327.14, subd. 8 and argued that, according to the definition supplied, recreational camping areas are not permitted to have permanent residents. The city also claimed that Wapiti Park allowed permanent structures, which are not within the definition of "recreational camping vehicle" as defined in Minn. Stat. § 327.14, subd. 7. The city requested a permanent injunction to preclude Wapiti Park from allowing permanent residents and structures.
The district court examined the text of Minn. Stat. § 327.14, subd. 8, and concluded that the definition of "recreational camping area" did not preclude permanent residency. The court then stated that it could not conclude as a matter of law that the permanent structures on Wapiti Park were outside the definition of "recreational camping vehicle" as defined in Minn. Stat. § 327.14, subd. 7, and that the city had failed to show injury or the threat of injury stemming from these permanent structures. The district court denied the city's request for injunctive relief for want of a cause of action to support the equitable remedy, and because the city failed to show injury or threat of injury to support injunctive relief.
The city appealed. After briefing and oral argument, this court requested supplemental briefing on the issue of whether the city has standing to assert a claim under Minn. Stat. § 327.24, subd. 3 (2014). The parties submitted supplemental briefs, and the appeal was submitted for decision.
DECISION
On appeal from an order denying injunctive relief, our review is for abuse of discretion. Williams v. Nat'l Football League, 794 N.W.2d 391, 395 (Minn. App. 2011), review denied (Minn. Apr. 27, 2011). But when the district court's decision is based on its interpretation of a statute, our review is de novo. Id. "The object of all interpretation and construction of laws is to ascertain and effectuate the intention of the legislature." Minn. Stat. § 645.16 (2014). "We construe statutes to effect their essential purpose but will not disregard a statute's clear language to pursue the spirit of the law." Lee v. Fresenius Med. Care, Inc., 741 N.W.2d 117, 123 (Minn. 2007).
This appeal requires us to interpret and apply several provisions of Minn. Stat. §§ 327.14-.28 (2014), which govern manufactured home parks and recreational camping areas. Minn. Stat. § 327.14 is a definitions section for the statutory range and defines a "recreational camping area" as "any area, whether privately or publicly owned, used on a daily, nightly, weekly, or longer basis for the accommodation of five or more tents or recreational camping vehicles free of charge or for compensation." Minn. Stat. § 327.14, subd. 8.2 Minn. Stat. 327.14, subd. 7 also defines "recreational camping vehicle" to include
(1) any vehicular, portable structure built on a chassis, designed to be used as a temporary dwelling for travel, recreational, and vacation uses;
(2) any structure designed to be mounted on a truck chassis for use as a temporary dwelling for travel, recreation, and vacation;
(3) any portable, temporary dwelling to be used for travel, recreation, and vacation, constructed as an integral part of a self-propelled vehicle; and
(4) any folding structure, mounted on wheels and designed for travel, recreation, and vacation use.
Minn. Stat. § 327.20 sets forth rules applicable to recreational camping areas, and Minn. Stat. § 327.24, subd. 3, provides a private right of action to "[a]ny person injured or threatened with injury by a violation of sections 327.14 to 327.28."
Respondents assert that the city has not identified any conduct by Wapiti Park that could constitute a violation of Minn. Stat. §§ 327.14-.28. We agree. Nothing in the plain language of these statutory provisions prohibits permanent residence at a recreational camping area. The city asserts that Minn. Stat. § 327.14, subds. 7 and 8 prohibit recreational camping areas from allowing permanent structures or residents. But those subdivisions are part of a set of definitions that identify the scope of the statute and include no prohibitive language. The fact that the statute defines recreational camping area and recreational camping vehicle for purposes of determining statutory scope does not limit an area that qualifies as a recreational camping area from undertaking activities not within the definition, except to the extent that such activities are otherwise prohibited by statute or rule.3
Our conclusion that the city fails to identify conduct that would constitute a violation of Minn. Stat. §§ 327.14-.28 is fatal to the city's claim. Accordingly, the district court did not err by dismissing the claim and denying the city's request for a permanent injunction.4
Affirmed.
