City Annexing My Property Through Alley Adverse Possession

[Seismicfish]

My question involves real estate located in the State of: Minnesota

This summer I started building a small garden shed. The city official told me I did not need a building permit as it was below the sq footage limit. I found the city code property offsets and measuring, I believe that I followed them. Now, the city says that I have built the structure on city right of way land and it (along with its concrete slab) need to be removed.

We own three city lots (each 25'x140') on the corner of the block purchased 5 years ago. There has never been a survey of the land except when the addition to the city was originally platted in the late 1800's. The only original pins seem to be of two corners of the 40 acre plat addition. No pins on our property or adjacent.

Now, the city argues that the right of way for the street in front of our house extends all the way to the edge of the house foundation (a full 26' from the edge of the pavement or 40' from the road center). A solid concrete porch (at least 50 years old) extends another 5' past the "property line" into what they say is the city's right of way. The garden shed starts the same distance off of the street as does the porch and hence, they claim that half of our shed is built on city right of way.

Here begins the real problem now: Assuming the city is correct, that moves our lot further south thus extending our property across the city alley (20 ROW) and into our neighbor's yard a few feet. Since the city constructed the alley on our property and not in the legal ROW, what recourse do we have? This makes our property now only about 110' long instead of 140'. In the title of the house, the only legal description is e.g. (lots 1-3 of the x addition to x) and is accompanied by a photocopy of the original plat from the late 1800's which states the sizes of the parcels.

Another problem: If this is correct, this at the bare minimum changes everyone else's property lines on the block. Only two parcels in the entire addition have ever been legally surveyed. We plan on dropping the grand and getting ours surveyed this week.

Thank you.

[LandSurveyor]

The original plat from the 1800's will define the original width of the street.

If the photo copy you were given with your deed is not completely legible, you can probably find the original or at least a good copy in your county records.

My guess is that your surveyor will find that the alley and street are in the correct location, and that the street is less than the 80' width the city claims.

If the surveyor finds that your shed and porch are indeed off of the right of way ask for a survey plat of your property showing their location as off the ROW and by how much.