Liberty Classical Academy officials have filed suit in U.S. District Court against May Township in their bid to begin construction of the school’s planned expansion as soon as possible.

Officials from the Hugo school filed a demand for a jury trial in the civil case, claiming that May Township officials’ decision to enact a moratorium on “schools and facilities associated with schools” was arbitrary.

The May Town Board voted in August to deny Liberty Classical Academy’s request for a conditional-use permit for a sewage treatment system and stormwater management facilities that are proposed to be located on school property in the township.

The private Christian academy, which serves students pre-K through 12th grade, moved part of its lower-school programming two years ago to the former Withrow Elementary School building in neighboring Hugo. School officials also bought the neighboring 88-acre Zahler farm, which is located in Hugo and May Township.

Liberty officials want to build an approximately 33,500-square-foot building addition to the existing school and associated parking on the Withrow property. The Hugo City Council in June approved the expansion plans, which will effectively double the size of the school building.

But May Township officials, in a 2-0 vote, denied the academy’s CUP request “on the basis that it is inconsistent with the terms of a recently passed interim ordinance establishing a moratorium around non-residential, commercial and institutional type uses in the rural residential district,” Town Board Chairman John Pazlar said at the time.

The vote was 2-0 because town board supervisor Don Rolf abstained. Rolf is an employee of Pope Design Group, the architecture firm assisting the school with the building plans.

Liberty officials claim in the complaint that township officials waited “until seven days before (they were) required to vote on the school’s conditional-use permit, even though the Town of May had been aware of (school’s) plan for over two years,” the complaint states.

Liberty officials also allege in the complaint that: the township’s “denial of the school’s CUP application was illegal because the moratorium is invalid,” the township violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which protects faith organizations from zoning laws that substantially burden religious exercise, and the township violated the First Amendment by denying the school’s “community’s rights to speech and assembly because it prevents (Liberty) from developing its independent, permanent location notwithstanding the CUP’s application with Town of May’s Code.”

Rebekah Hagstrom, the academy’s headmaster and founder, said Tuesday that she could not comment on the merits of the case.

“The goal of the litigation is to enforce Liberty Classical Academy’s property rights against an arbitrary moratorium,” she said. “This litigation is aimed at correcting procedures, not quarreling with the people of May Township. We look forward to working with the Town of May to resolve the issue quickly.”

Pazlar said the township recently received Liberty Classical Academy’s formal complaint filing, and town staff are in the process of reviewing it “with the intent of responding to this issue in a timely and comprehensive manner.”

Given the pending litigation, he said he could not comment further.

Neighbors who live in the area told the Pioneer Press in July that they were worried about the school’s plans for future expansion, citing concerns about an increase in traffic and its proposed subsurface sewage treatment system.

Jim Dropps, who lives just west of the site, said Tuesday that the project does not meet May Township’s rural-residential zoning requirements.

“That’s the primary issue,” he said. “Institutional uses are not allowed, and any CUP has to ‘ensure that the rural residential character of the community is preserved, by limiting the (conditional) uses to a secondary role.’”

“The fact that the project doesn’t meet these requirements was the basis for the moratorium,” Dropps added. “Liberty’s attempt to make this about religion or the First Amendment distracts from the fact that schools and other institutional uses are not allowed in the rural-residential zoning districts’s comprehensive plan.”

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch was asked who has impressed him with their work in the team’s practice facility in the weeks leading up to the start of training camp. He listed both rookies – Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr. Their progression is natural as they adjust to the speed and physicality of the pro game.

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Josh Minott (8) poses for a photo during the NBA basketball team’s media day, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Then he brought up a wing heading into Year 3.

“Josh Minott has had an incredible summer,” Finch said. “He has probably been one of our best players in the last six weeks here in the gym, watching us play.”

Minott has been the source of intrigue for Wolves fans since he was selected with a second-round pick in 2022. Then an athletic, wiry specimen with little playing time in his freshman year at Memphis, Minott was the unknown with endless potential.

He has seen little of the NBA floor in two years – a product largely of Minnesota’s strong roster. But there also never seemed to be a reason to force him into action. Minott’s jump shot was inconsistent, at best. And defensively he wasn’t far enough along to trust with any type of legitimate minutes.

This summer, Minott said he started to become a smarter player. He simplified thoughts on the floor for himself. He understood what worked for him and what didn’t. Reads became easier to execute.

And that jumper, specifically, has grown by leaps and bounds. After Tuesday’s practice, not only was Minott drilling every 3-point attempt, the ball was hardly touching the twine. The 21 year old said this is the most confident he has ever felt in his shot.

“I feel like anytime the ball leaves my hands from beyond the arc, it’s going in,” he said.

That leap in confidence, he noted, has come from his mentality. Minott was crippling himself in the first two years of his career with a fear of failure. The thought of “what if I miss?” crept into his mind as he’d rise up for a shot. Avoidance of mistakes was a top priority during his play.

“Coming into the league, I was scared of messing up, scared of making mistakes,” Minott said. “I wanted to be the perfect player. I wanted to impress the coach and all this other stuff.”

The contract Minott inked after he was drafted didn’t feature a guaranteed third year. Even that weighed heavily on him last season. That’s no way to compete.

“Not only was that not healthy mentally, but it wasn’t even helping me to stress like that,” Minott said.

That was a realization made late last season. That’s when his personal shift started to occur. Minott relaxed – not in terms of work habits. He remains on his personal grind. But, mentally, he doesn’t live in fear of falling short. He competes to win, not worried about numbers. Roughly 5,000 players have ever played in the NBA. He now savors the fact that he’s one of them.

“Just stop putting so much stress on myself, and not only is it healthier for my mental,” he said, “but I’m actually getting better at the game of basketball by not caring so much in terms of stressing.”

Because you have to fail to learn and grow. He has done plenty of both over the past few months, which has reignited the intrigue for his potential. Does that mean playing time is coming this season? Frankly, likely not unless an injury occurs. Minnesota is suddenly stacked at the wing position. Minutes are currently at a premium.

But that’s none of Minott’s concern.

“That’s an external situation. I don’t control that,” he said. “That’s for the front office and coaching staff to decide. All I can control is me, what I do, and I’m just going to go out there and try to be the best player I can be every day.”

It would likely be different if Minott played for a bad team. He doesn’t see the floor because he’s rostered by a championship contender. He understands as much.

“I’ve kind of seen it with players around the league, especially in my draft class, going to the opposite end of the winning spectrum and seeing how that works,” Minott said. “Honestly, I’m happy where my feet are. Opportunity is something everybody in this room knows is a little scarce here just with the culture we have and everything. I just embrace the work, embrace the G-League, did my time, so to speak.

“Overall, it’s just been a learning experience that I probably wouldn’t find on the other team that wasn’t winning as much. Yes, I might be ‘hooping’ and going out and playing, but I don’t really know the value of what I’d be learning. We just did something really special last year, went to the conference finals, and I got to be a part of that winning culture and see what it took. I feel like that’s more valuable than going 20-62.”

Solventum, the massive health care spin-off from Maplewood-based 3M, made minor headway Tuesday night in its quest to move to the former Blue Cross Blue Shield campus in Eagan.

On Tuesday night the Eagan City Council approved a resolution of support for applications to the Minnesota Investment Fund and the state’s Job Creation Fund to renovate “from what was a call center facility into a high-tech medical research and development facility,” according to the MIF resolution.

The council also approved $100,000 of MIF loan forgiveness at the meeting, which would have otherwise been paid to the city’s revolving MIF fund.

The requested loan amounts were not disclosed in the resolution documents, but the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) will be responsible for reviewing and administering the loans.

The Minnesota Investment Fund provides financing “to help add new workers and retain high-quality jobs on a statewide basis,” according to DEED. The Job Creation Fund, which provides financial incentives to new and expanding businesses, requires applicants create at least 10 new permanent full-time equivalent jobs within two years of approval.

The project would provide over 1,000 “high wage jobs in Eagan” and some 600 to 800 employees are expected to be on site daily, according to the resolutions.

Depending on state assistance and other approvals, Solventum would relocate upward of 1,100 workers from Maplewood to Eagan.

Solventum is the latest company to take an interest in the 55-acre Blue Cross Blue Shield site, which became available last year after the insurance company’s employees opted for the hybrid work model.

Earlier this year, Johnson Bros. Liquor Company, the third-largest wine distributor in the nation, was considering the site at 3535 Blue Cross Road for a new distribution facility.

After scrutiny from residents and the Eagan City Council, Johnson Bros. withdrew its application in March.

Solventum officially became its own company in March and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on April 1. It could qualify as Minnesota’s latest Fortune 500 company once the new rankings are published in 2025.

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