St. Louis County Planning & Zoning — Land Use Division

Land Use Permit, Home Business (Performance Standard) Permit and Conditional Use Permit

Zoning Ordinance 62 §2.4 D provides that no structure may be erected, constructed, reconstructed, moved or structurally altered, "and no land shall change in use until the Director has approved and issued a land use permit." By §1.3 the ordinance regulates "that portion of St. Louis County, Minnesota, outside the incorporated limits of municipalities", and §11.6 A states it "shall not apply to towns that have adopted and filed with the county recorder a zoning ordinance consistent with and as restrictive as this ordinance"; the Land Use Division describes its area as "county-administered areas." A home business — a commercial use on the owner's home property that "may employ no more than five persons who are not residents of the owner's home" — needs a performance standard permit in the districts listed in §6.20, and uses listed as conditional need a conditional use permit after a public hearing. The county's Apply for a Land Use Permit page states: "St. Louis County does not administer the Minnesota State Building Code, but does require land use permits for a wide range of activities." The $185, $360 and $95 figures also appear in the county's 2026 Permit Fees sheet. The figure is from the St. Louis County 2026 Fee Schedule (amended by the County Board after the public hearing on January 27, 2026; originally adopted November 4, 2025 by Resolution No. 25-527), which is in effect through December 31, 2026. Contact the St. Louis County Planning & Zoning Land Use Division.