Lake County hears plan to expand Two Harbors industrial site

Lake County land-use officials will hear a proposal that could expand an active industrial site on the north side of Two Harbors and set the stage for a much larger business park. JBL Industries LLC is seeking an amendment to conditional use permit C-21-019 for its property at 872 Stanley Road, with a public hearing set for June 15 at 6:45 p.m. at the Law Enforcement Center in Two Harbors.

The request goes well beyond routine earthwork operations. The application outlines trucks entering and exiting the site, equipment loading and unloading, and storage of aggregate, vehicles and inventory. It also asks for approval of a business park concept that could include warehousing, office space, retail, storage and general business operations on the 18.53-acre parcel in Unorganized Territory #2.

The land is zoned non-shoreland CR, or commercial-rural, with a 2-acre minimum, which puts the proposal squarely in the county’s land-use review process. Lake County’s events calendar also lists the Planning Commission meeting that evening from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Law Enforcement Center Meeting Room, placing the hearing within that session.

This is not the first time the site tied to C-21-019 has drawn county attention. Planning Commission minutes from Aug. 28, 2023 show a revocation hearing related to an existing conditional use permit issued to JBL Industries, and that review was initiated by Lake County Planning and Zoning. The new amendment request suggests the county is again being asked to decide how far industrial activity should be allowed to grow at the Stanley Road site.

JBL Trucking & Excavating describes itself as a full-service dirt work and trucking company that handles septic system installation, driveways, demolition, site development and commercial snow removal. Its office is listed at 872 Stanley Road, and business filings show JBL Industries LLC as an active Minnesota domestic LLC filed April 3, 2017, while JBL Trucking & Excavating LLC was filed April 10, 2018. That makes the proposal a local expansion question, not a new outside development.

For Lake County, the stakes are straightforward: more industrial capacity and potential long-term investment on one side, and more heavy equipment traffic, noise, storage and compatibility concerns for neighboring properties on the other. If the permit is amended, the site could become an early step toward a larger business park footprint on the edge of Two Harbors, reshaping how that corridor develops for years to come.