St. Louis County Planning & Zoning — Onsite Wastewater Division

SSTS (Septic) Permit to Construct and Operating Permit

A business whose premises are served by a subsurface sewage treatment system (septic system) rather than a public sewer needs a permit to construct before a new or replacement system is installed, and some system types carry an operating permit that is renewed with Form 3040 and a $70 fee; a business on a public sewer has no septic permit. The county's Onsite Wastewater Division page states that the division "is responsible for the administration and coordination of onsite wastewater treatment systems throughout St. Louis County" and regulates Ordinance 61. Minn. R. 7082.0040 subp. 2 states that county SSTS ordinances "must apply to all land area within the county, except in towns and cities that have adopted ordinances that are in conformance with the county ordinance and this chapter," so a site in a town or city with its own conforming SSTS ordinance applies there instead. Commercial applications use Form 3001 (Rev. 12-30-2025), which prints the same type-by-type fees and states "Please make checks payable to: St. Louis County Auditor." 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.