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Brzinski v. Ramsey County2/26/2004
This case arises out of Ramsey County's operation of a compost site on Beam Avenue in Maplewood, Minnesota, from 1984 to 1996. Appellant Ramsey County appeals from a decision of the court of appeals affirming the district court's denial of official immunity on respondents' nuisance and negligent failure to warn claims. We affirm on respondents' nuisance claim but reverse on the negligent failure to warn claim.
The respondents include 14 members of three separate families, the Slettens, the Brzinskis, and the Behrens, who reside in close proximity to the compost site (hereinafter collectively referred to as the "Slettens"). The Slettens allege that the compost site exposed them to foul odors, interfered with the use of their property, and caused acute and chronic health problems due to exposure to airborne pathogens (bioaerosols), specifically aspergillus fumigatus spores. The Slettens brought claims against Ramsey County in 1997 and pleaded a variety of theories of recovery: negligent operation of the compost site, trespass, abnormally dangerous activity, maintenance of a nuisance as defined by Minn. Stat. ยง 561.01 (1996), negligent failure to warn of the dangers of bioaerosols, negligence, nuisance per se, and violation of the Minnesota Environmental Response and Liability Act, also known as MERLA.
A. Capacity Restrictions on the Site
Ramsey County was required to obtain approval from two governmental units to operate this facility: the City of Maplewood and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). Ramsey County conceded that the site was regulated by the MPCA. In the MPCA's "Permit-by-Rule Facility Notification Form," Ramsey County certified on May 23, 1990 that it would compost grass and leaves and that the total "facility design waste capacity at the site would be 9,000 cubic yards." The capacity restrictions were part of the representations Ramsey County made in order to obtain Permit-by-Rule approval from the MPCA. This capacity limit followed the MPCA mandate that "about one acre of land is needed for each 3,000 to 3,500 cubic yards of yard wastes collected." Based on this certification, on July 5, 1990 the MPCA approved Ramsey County's application to compost a maximum of 9,000 cubic yards of grass and leaves on the Beam Avenue site. Ramsey County alleges that it complied with the MPCA's rules. Rebecca Wirth, a MPCA senior pollution control specialist responsible for regulating yard waste sites in Minnesota, including the Beam Avenue site, states that the "notification form filled out by an owner or operator of a yard waste composting facility is not a permit and does not have the force of law." According to Wirth, " he permit is the rule itself, which contains all of the requirements with which the owner or operator must comply."
In August of 1994, the Ramsey County Division of Solid Waste submitted a report to the Maplewood City Council concerning the Maplewood yard waste site. This information was submitted to the city as background for review of the conditional use permit (CUP) for the yard waste site in issue. The following summary illustrates that there were approximately 60,000 visits per year to the site from 1990 to 1994 and that a total of 117,295 cubic yards were received at this site during that time. According to this summary, 39,463 yards were transferred to other locations, leaving over 77,832 cubic yards at the site.
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