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RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE RE-CONVEYANCE OF CERTAIN PROPERTY IN THE FOND DU LAC NEIGHBORHOOD ACQUIRED UNDER A CONDITIONAL USE DEED TO THE STATE OF MINNESOTA.
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CITY PROPOSAL:
WHEREAS, on December 5, 2008, the state of Minnesota (“State”) conveyed the real property legally described on the attached Exhibit A (the “Property”) to the city of Duluth (“City”) under a conditional use deed that required the Property to be exclusively for public road and utilities purposes (the “Deed”);
WHEREAS, the Property was used for public road purposes for a period of time until the public road and other adjacent property was discovered to contain human remains;
WHEREAS, the State Archeologist of the State of Minnesota designated the Property, together with other real property, as the Mission Creek Cemetery;
WHEREAS, the various tracts of land comprising the Mission Creek Cemetery are currently owned by various agencies of the State and the city of Duluth (the “City”);
WHEREAS, the State and City desire that all of the real property within the boundary of the Mission Creek Cemetery is owned by the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa;
WHEREAS, Minn. Stat. § 282.01, Subd. 1d requires re-conveyance by a governmental subdivision to the State of any tax-forfeited land acquired under a conditional use deed that is not being used for its intended purpose; and
WHEREAS, Section 2-177(f) of the Duluth City Code states that a re-conveyance to the State of tax-forfeited property acquired by a conditional use deed shall be by a resolution of the city council.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the City council approves the re-conveyance of the Property to the state of Minnesota.
FURTHER RESOLVED, that the proper city officials are hereby authorized to execute all documents necessary to effectuate the re-conveyance of the Property to the State.
Statement of Purpose
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE: This resolution authorizes the re-conveyance of certain real property in the Fond du Lac neighborhood (the “Property”) to the state of Minnesota (the “State”). The Property was acquired under a conditional use deed for public road and utilities purposes, and the Property was used for such purposes for a period of time until human remains were discovered at or near the Property. The Property, together with other property, was designated as the Mission Creek Cemetery by the State Archeologist. The Mission Creek Cemetery is comprised of several tracts of land, two of which are owned by the city of Duluth (the “City”). The remaining tracts of land within the Mission Creek Cemetery boundary are owned or will be owned by the City and various agencies of the State (the State only has easement interests in some of the tracts and needs to acquire the fee simple estate of those tracts). The State and City desire to convey the property within the Mission Creek Cemetery boundary to the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. However, state statute governing the City’s acquisition of the Property provides that the City’s remedy to dispose of the Property is to re-convey it back to the State (and not directly to the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa). Once the Property is owned by the State, the State will work with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa on the next steps.
The Property and Mission Creek Cemetery are depicted on the map attached as Exhibit B.