Stearns County, MN Accessory Structures: ADU Owner Occupancy (2026)

Ordinance 439's Accessory Dwelling Unit standards impose an identical owner-occupancy condition on both ADU types. Section 6.3.1(C), governing attached units, states plainly that the owner of the property shall reside in either the principal dwelling unit or the Accessory Dwelling Unit. Section 6.3.2(C), governing detached units, repeats the same requirement word for word. The rule sits alongside the other conditions in the same subsections: the ADU cannot be sold independently of the principal dwelling or carried on a separate tax parcel (6.3.1(B)/6.3.2(B)), only one ADU is allowed per lot (6.3.1(A)/6.3.2(A)), and sewage treatment must be sized for the combined bedroom count across both units (6.3.1(D)/6.3.2(D)).

Because the owner-occupancy language allows residence in either unit, an owner can live in the smaller ADU and rent out the principal home, or live in the principal home and rent the ADU, but the county's structure requires one of the two units to be owner-occupied at all times; a lot where neither unit houses the owner falls outside what Section 6.3 authorizes. The requirement applies equally in the Shoreland Overlay District, where ADUs face the added standards of Section 10.2.12(B), and in the Agricultural and Transitional Districts, where a detached ADU must additionally sit within 150 feet of the principal dwelling under Section 7.33.