A district court judge has affirmed the City of Minot’s decision to allow vacation of a downtown subdivision.

North Central District Judge Todd Cresap ruled in a decision filed Feb. 28 that the city’s decision was reasonable based upon the evidence in the record.

RMM Properties had filed a notice of appeal in October regarding Kyle Addition, which Aksal Group had requested be vacated to establish a preliminary plat for Citizen’s Alley, a public-use space. The vacation had been requested to remove an easement for a public alley.

The property is located at the intersection of First Street Southeast and East Central Avenue and along the railroad tracks in that area.

RMM Properties, which owns neighboring land, protested the vacation at a hearing during a Minot Planning Commission meeting. The city council adopted the commission’s recommendation in approving the vacation and preliminary plat last September.

RMM Properties alleged the city applied an incorrect legal standard and process to review the application and failed to consider the rights of the landowner abutting the public alley, including the right of ownership to the center of the alley once vacated. RMM Properties stated the city took its property without compensation. As owner of a portion of the vacated alley, RMM Properties argued its consent was necessary for the preliminary plat of Citizen’s Alley.

In his decision, Cresap noted the city applied the legal standard that it did because Aksal owned the entirety of the plat and was seeking to vacate the entirety of the plat. The city also took into consideration the public’s interest in determining the easement was no longer necessary, he wrote.