Stearns County, MN Building Setbacks & Zoning: Setback Rules (2026)

11(A) of Ordinance 439 spells out the A-160 district's minimum building setbacks in three parts. Side and rear setbacks are a flat fifty feet each. Front setbacks instead run off a road-classification table measured from both the road centerline and the right-of-way, with the more restrictive of the two controlling: a Principal Arterial requires 150 feet from centerline or 75 feet from right-of-way; a Minor Arterial requires 120 feet from centerline or 60 feet from right-of-way; a Major or Minor Collector requires 100 feet from centerline or 50 feet from right-of-way; a County Road requires 100 feet from centerline or 50 feet from right-of-way; and a Township Road or private road easement requires 63 feet from centerline or 30 feet from right-of-way.

Detached garages and accessory buildings get a reduced allowance, ten feet from the side lot line and ten feet from the rear lot line. For lots created after January 27, 2005, the section also layers on wetland setbacks: fifty feet from Type 3, 4 and 5 wetlands and twenty-five feet from all other wetlands. 11(C) adds that residential dwellings must also meet the separate residential setback from an animal feedlot required elsewhere in the Ordinance. 11 in the same chapter, so the applicable district must be confirmed on the county's Official Zoning Map before relying on the A-160 figures.