Carver County, MN Ordinances (2026)

Carver County declares rodent infestations and rodent-attracting conditions a public health nuisance countywide. Waste must sit in insect- and rodent-proof containers, and the County…

Carver County Code § 54.07 shields properly operated feedlots and farm operations from nuisance complaints. Odors, dust, noise, and machinery use tied to raising livestock, applying…

Carver County requires a building permit for work governed by the Minnesota State Building Code, which the county has adopted wholesale for the unincorporated area. The Land Management…

Carver County requires a microchip only for dogs already declared dangerous or potentially dangerous, not for pets generally. The owner pays the cost, reports the chip number to Animal…

Carver County allows dog grooming as a permitted home occupation in the Agriculture District, but caps it, along with hair salons, at three clients on site at any one time under…

Carver County requires dogs, cats, and other pets to be caged or kept on a leash no more than six feet long and under the handler's control inside any county park, except in a…

Carver County does not ban dog breeds; it regulates individual dogs designated dangerous or potentially dangerous after an attack. Owners face registration, $500,000/$1,000,000…

Carver County caps backyard fowl and livestock by lot size in the Agriculture District. Lots under 1.5 acres get ten or fewer fowl (not counted as livestock) plus customary pets…

In unincorporated Carver County, the Zoning Code caps structures at 35 feet under § 152.037. Belfries, water towers, smokestacks and similar accessory structures may go up to 100 feet…

Unincorporated Carver County structures must clear a 15-foot side lot line setback and a 30-foot rear lot line setback in every zoning district under § 152.034, with front setbacks…

In the Shoreland Overlay District, Carver County caps impervious surface at 25% of lot area under § 152.131.1(B)(1). Stormwater rules also require developments to prioritize natural…

Carver County's disposal chapter bars several common household items from the regular garbage stream. Yard waste, lead-acid batteries, mercury or nickel-cadmium dry cell batteries…

Carver County bars yard waste from regular trash disposal or processing facilities under Code Section 50.070 unless the facility has a licensed compost area or an agency-and-county…

Carver County requires licensed haulers to collect recyclables at least twice a month and bans putting beverage containers, glass and newsprint in with regular household trash…

Carver County requires non-farm properties to have their garbage containers emptied at least every 15 days and farm properties at least every 30 days. The county also funds solid waste…

Carver County limits how long garbage carts can sit at the curb and dictates where rural residents must place them for pickup. Containers can be set out for collection no more than 24…

Refrigerators, freezers, AC units and other major appliances cannot go out with your regular trash in Carver County. County Code § 50.074 bars them from mixed municipal waste and caps…

Anyone who unlawfully dumps solid waste on public or private land, shorelands, roadways or waters in Carver County faces a civil penalty of two to five times the cost of removing and…

In Carver County's unincorporated shoreland areas, clear-cutting natural vegetation within 50 feet of the ordinary high water level is prohibited outright. Only a strip no wider than…

Carver County lets developers meet part of their required stormwater volume control by capturing and reusing runoff for irrigation instead of building a pond or infiltration basin…

Carver County lets residents run a backyard compost pile for their own household yard waste without a county license, but the pile has to stay orderly, nuisance-free, and at least five…

Unincorporated Carver County limits yard and garage sales to no more than three per year on any residential property in the Agriculture District. County Code Section 152.073(O) also…

Carver County bans using, vaporizing, or smoking cannabis flower, cannabis products, lower-potency hemp edibles, or hemp-derived consumer products in any public place or place of…

Carver County bans smoking and vaping tobacco, cannabis, or hemp products within 25 feet of any indoor area in a county park, and bans it entirely inside designated play areas and…

Open burning of any material in unincorporated Carver County requires a valid permit obtained through the Minnesota DNR's online burning permit service before any fire is lit, even…

Backyard fire pits and campfires up to 3 feet wide and 3 feet tall qualify as 'recreational fires' under Carver County's open burning code and don't need a DNR burn permit. They must…

In Carver County's park system, setting off fireworks or other pyrotechnics is banned outright unless the Parks Board authorizes it in advance or issues a use permit. The rule sits…

Adult uses in unincorporated Carver County need both a county adult use license and a conditional use permit under Code of Ordinances § 113.25, and § 113.29 confines them to rural…

No one may sell or offer to sell tobacco, tobacco products, or tobacco related devices, a category that expressly includes electronic delivery devices like e-cigarettes and vapes, in…

Carver County lets landowners in the Agriculture District apply for a conditional use permit to subdivide extra homesites beyond the standard one-per-40-acres rule by qualifying for…

Carver County overlays Floodway, Flood Fringe, and General Floodplain Districts on mapped land under § 152.144-152.149. In the Flood Fringe District, structures must be elevated on…

Carver County requires an erosion control permit for any construction activity of one acre or more, or smaller projects within a sensitive area, before ground is disturbed anywhere in…

Carver County requires stormwater management plans for new development to control both the rate and quality of runoff before it reaches lakes, streams, and wetlands. Under County Code…

Carver County's shoreland code does not regulate permanent or seasonal docks or private boat ramps. Under § 152.114(C), the Minnesota DNR handles dock and boat ramp permitting on the…

In the Flood Fringe District, Carver County requires the lowest floor of every structure, including accessory structures, to sit at or above the Regulatory Flood Protection Elevation…

Carver County splits solar permitting by size: a small solar energy system (SES) on a parcel with an existing single-family home is a permitted use with no conditional use permit…

Carver County scales shed and garage square footage to parcel size in the Agriculture District, from 1,250 square feet on lots under 1.5 acres up to 7,000 square feet on parcels over…

Carver County's "A" District code bars separate accessory dwelling units outright. Section 152.070(C) allows guest quarters or extended-family space only if integrated into the main…

Carver County permits home occupations in the Agriculture District, offices, trades, salons, dog grooming, teaching, repair, only as a use secondary to the residence, with no exterior…

Carver County allows day care facilities serving ten or fewer people, and residential facilities serving six or fewer, as a permitted accessory use in a single-family home, as long as…

Home occupations in Carver County must confine business parking to three off-street spaces, and professional services like salons and dog grooming may not have more than three clients…

Obstructing or excavating a Carver County right-of-way, including a public sidewalk, without first getting a permit is a separate violation under Code of Ordinances § 93.21. Outside an…

In unincorporated Carver County, anyone who wants to obstruct or excavate a public right-of-way, which by definition includes county sidewalks, must first get a right-of-way permit…

Carver County requires a use permit or prior Board or Director authorization before anyone holds a parade, demonstration, assembly, or worship service inside a county park, treating…

Carver County requires a use permit for exclusive or large-group use of county park facilities, and specifically for any event expected to draw 20 or more people, before a group can…

Carver County bars anyone from running a loudspeaker, sound truck, or amplified music system inside a county park without Board or Director authorization, and separately bans any…

Carver County bans starting or flying any battery- or fuel-powered model aircraft in a county park without Board or Director authorization or a use permit; the text carves out no…

Carver County parks are open only at hours the Board sets and posts at each park; entering or staying past posted closing time, or before posted opening time, is unlawful without a use…

Carver County Code of Ordinances § 130.04 bars juveniles from public places during set nighttime hours that get later as the child ages: under-12s face a 9 p.m. weeknight and 10 p.m…

Carver County outlaws digital and electronic changeable-copy signs outright. Section 154.23(D) lists 'changeable copy signs' among the county's unauthorized signs, and Chapter 154…

Any sign proposed along a state trunk highway or interstate in unincorporated Carver County needs more than the county's usual sign permit: the application must include proof the…

Carver County lets residents post noncommercial and political signs of any size, overriding the county's usual permit and size rules, starting August 1 of a general election year…

Unincorporated Carver County property is capped at two unlicensed or inoperable motor vehicles kept outside a building under § 152.032, unless a specific permit or conditional use…

On unincorporated Carver County parcels under one and one-half acres, § 152.032 caps outdoor vehicle storage at five licensed vehicles, a count that folds in boats, trailers and…

Yard lights in unincorporated Carver County get a narrow setback exemption under § 152.034(C)(2): they can sit as close as three feet from a lot line only if the luminaire itself is…

Security and parking-area lighting in unincorporated Carver County cannot send glare toward a public road or a neighbor's residential property, and § 152.034(C)(2) draws a hard number…

Carver County bans flashing or rotating sign lights outright and requires any floodlight on a sign to be aimed at the sign itself, not at the street or a neighboring lot. Because the…

Carver County does not zone cannabis retailers into specific districts; instead, Code of Ordinances § 114.30 caps the total number of registered cannabis retail businesses countywide…

In the unincorporated Shoreland District, Carver County bars any structure from being placed on a significant historic site in a way that affects the site's values unless the site's…

Most fences in unincorporated Carver County go up without a permit, but § 152.029 requires one the moment a fence reaches seven feet, the same height that caps ordinary boundary…

Boundary line fences on unincorporated Carver County land cap at seven feet under Code § 152.029. Height is measured from the average grade of the surrounding ground, and a fence built…

When Carver County property owners share a boundary line, § 152.029 puts the burden of placement on the fence-builder: the fence stays on that owner's own property unless the adjoining…

Charcoal grills, propane grills, and natural gas smokers are carved out of Carver County's open burning code entirely. Section 53.02 says these 'mobile cooking devices' are not…

Carver County has adopted the Minnesota State Building Code for all construction in the unincorporated area (§ 150.01), enforced by the Land Management Department, and in the…