The POWER 30: Peter J. Coyle.

Byline: Minnesota Lawyer

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]ne of Peter Coyle's current development project cases is the Parkera project on Highway 55 in Plymouth.

It was approved recently, after having been on hold by Coyle's clients until anther Plymouth redevelopment project, Hollydale, got the go-ahead from the city. It did, although some neighbors clearly are unhappy, said Coyle, a partner at Larkin Hoffman Daly & Lindren.

Hollydale is the construction of housing on what was once a golf course. Neighbors wanted to keep the green space, but the city did not buy the property. Instead, it approved a development plan.

Parkera will be a mixed-use development on the former site of Dundee Nursery, at Rockford Road. The plan includes 210 multifamily units, a Twin Cities Orthopedics medical office building and a 2-acre park, dedicated to the city and full of trees. Of course there were concerns about density and traffic.

Concern about having an open space is the issue of opponents of development in nine out of 10 conflicts, Coyle said. "People want to protect their view even if it's someone else's property." This illustrates Peter Coyle's law practice. While there are legitimate public policy concerns over use of land, "there are rules and we're darn well going to enforce them," he said.

Another illustration is drawn in Harstad v. City of Woodbury, where Larkin Hoffman represented the developer when the city demanded a roughly $1.3 million, or about $20,000...