Lake County schedules hearing on land use, subdivision ordinance changes

A Lake County family hoping to split off a home site from inherited land, or a rural landowner planning a new garage or shed, could face a different rulebook after county planners weigh changes to the land use and subdivision ordinances. The Lake County Planning Commission will take up proposed amendments to Land Use Ordinance No. 12 and Subdivision Ordinance No. 9 at 6 p.m. Monday in the Law Enforcement Center, 613 Third Avenue in Two Harbors.

The notice does not spell out every line-by-line change, but the ordinances under review are the ones that shape what can be built, how land can be divided and what kind of county approval is required in unincorporated parts of Lake County and in shoreland areas. Lake County’s planning and zoning program already says it has regulated land use since the mid-1970s, and its permit rules reach deep into ordinary projects: structures over 3 feet tall that are intended to be permanently placed can require a land use permit, and clearing vegetation within 50 feet of a waterway and 20 feet of a bluff is tightly controlled.

The most consequential proposed changes surfaced in a March notice that included Land Use Ordinance No. 12, Cannabis Ordinance No. 29 and Subdivision Ordinance No. 9. That draft said the county was looking at shoreland language aligned with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources model ordinance, a bluff-reference adjustment for Lake Superior, revised septic language for vacation rentals and a higher maximum lot coverage of 25 percent, while removing an earlier option that allowed up to 40 percent lot coverage with a runoff plan. In practical terms, those kinds of changes can decide how large a house footprint can be, how much room remains for drainage and access, and whether a parcel can be split or developed at all.

The April hearing is narrower, naming only the land use and subdivision ordinances, not the cannabis ordinance. That matters because the county has been revisiting its code in pieces: commissioners approved amendments to Land Use Ordinance No. 12 on June 24, 2025, effective July 4, 2025, and later approved cannabis ordinance changes on March 24, 2026, effective April 3, 2026. Lake County also says its planning and zoning staff handle permits for structure placement, grade and fill work, driveways, fences, multiple dwellings and other shoreland-related issues, with lake and river setbacks varying by site.

Written comments were due Thursday at 4:30 p.m. to Tanya Feldkamp or the Environmental Services Department at 601 Third Avenue in Two Harbors. Even with that deadline past, the hearing remains the county’s next public test of how much flexibility landowners, builders and township residents will have when they want to divide land, place a structure or develop a rural parcel.