Stearns County, MN Building Setbacks & Zoning: Structure Height Limits (2026)

Stearns County Land Use and Zoning Ordinance No. 439 sets a flat 35-foot height ceiling for buildings in every residential zoning district in the unincorporated county. 12 (R-5 Residential District) each provide, in identical language, that buildings other than agricultural buildings shall not exceed thirty-five (35) feet in height, and that agricultural buildings are exempt from the height requirement. 10, governing the R-1 Residential District, applies the same 35-foot cap to all buildings in that district. 14, Height Regulations, which lists structures exempted countywide from any height limit regardless of zoning district: church spires, belfries or domes without usable space, flagpoles, grain elevators, water towers, chimneys and smokestacks, wind energy conversion systems and meteorological towers, rooftop mechanical or electrical equipment covering no more than 25 percent of the roof area, monuments, parapet walls extending no more than 3 feet above the building's limiting height, essential-service towers and poles, and television antennas up to 20 feet tall when mounted on a principal structure.

Because these are county zoning provisions, they govern townships and unincorporated land only; incorporated cities such as St. Cloud, Sartell, Sauk Centre, Melrose and Cold Spring set and enforce their own height limits under their own zoning codes. A property owner proposing a structure taller than 35 feet in a Stearns County residential district must seek relief through the variance process administered by the county's Environmental Services Land Use Division rather than proceed as a permitted use.