Minnetonka, MN Code Violation Reporting: Common Violations (2026)

Section 845.005 is the first list in the City of Minnetonka's public nuisance chapter. It declares these conditions nuisances affecting public health: a pond or pool of stagnant water; decayed or unwholesome food offered for sale; a privy vault and garbage can that is not fly-tight; effluence from a cesspool, septic tank, drain field or sewage system discharging on the ground; an accumulation of manure, rubbish, tin cans or other debris; noxious weeds and rank growths of vegetation on public or private property; dense smoke, noxious fumes, gas, soot or cinders; and breeding sites of the aedes triseriatus (tree hole mosquito), including unused tires not mounted on wheels, pots, pans, cans, pails and bottles left outdoors where water or debris can accumulate.

The companion list in § 845.010 covers common neighborhood complaints. It includes piling or storing old machinery, junk, furniture or appliances; property disturbed by construction or grading that is not seeded, sodded or planted within 240 days; piles of wood not neatly stacked or secured; a residential structure whose exterior is not completed within 180 days after the building permit issued; construction materials left in the open more than 60 days after construction or a certificate of occupancy; and exterior lighting glare above five-tenth footcandles at an abutting residential parcel line or one footcandle at a commercial or industrial parcel.

Procedure comes from § 845.045. The enforcing officer serves written notice in person or by certified mail, naming the location, the nature of the nuisance with the code reference, the steps to abate and a reasonable time. The owner can appeal in writing to the city clerk before the abatement date or within seven calendar days of service, whichever comes first, and a timely appeal goes to a hearing before the Minnetonka City Council. A nuisance expected to cost more than $5,000 to abate is referred to the council.