Steven Meldahl owns 85 rental properties located in City of Minneapolis. From approximately 2008 through 2011, the properties accrued delinquent utility (water, sewage, and solid waste) bills, and the city conducted nuisance-abatement work and sidewalk repairs to address uncorrected code violations. Additionally, the city determined that three of Meldahl’s properties were subject to a vacant-building registration (VBR) fee.
Meldahl challenged the district court’s grant of summary judgment to city. He argued that (1) the city’s assessment appeal procedures are inadequate and the city failed to adequately review the assessments it adopted; (2) two city ordinances are unconstitutionally vague; (3) the city’s VBR fee did not reflect the regulatory costs associated with his vacant buildings; (4) the district court erred in ordering reassessments for only one of eight properties for which the parties agreed reassessment was warranted; and (5) the city did not provide proper notice of sidewalk-repair assessments.
The court of appeals affirmed the district court’s ruling on each of the counts.