Stearns County, MN Short-Term Rentals: Occupancy Limits (2026)

central time and limits overnight headcount to whichever is smaller: the per-bedroom count set by the county's Lodging Ordinance No. 661 plus two additional people per building, or one person for every 75 gallons per day of design flow the property's sub-surface sewage treatment system is rated to handle. and caps daytime occupancy at one and a half times the overnight capacity or a parking-based capacity of three people per vehicle, whichever produces the lower number. Because the sewage-design-flow formula and the Lodging Ordinance bedroom count both feed into the same calculation, an inspector verifying occupancy checks the property's certified septic design flow and its licensed bedroom count side by side.

The septic system itself must be certified at each permit/registration renewal cycle and carry a flow measurement device with monthly-recorded readings kept on file for the county's Environmental Services Department. 62 that requires the rental to hold either an Interim or Provisional Use Permit before it can operate at all, so an occupancy violation is also a permit-condition violation.