Environmental Rules in Minnesota (2026)

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency administers the federal NPDES MS4 general permit under Minn. Stat. Ch. 115…

Olmsted County bans dumping anything but storm water into its MS4 storm drainage system and watercourses under Chapter…

In unincorporated Anoka County land within 1,000 feet of a lake, pond or flowage, or 300 feet of a river or stream…

Carver County requires stormwater management plans for new development to control both the rate and quality of runoff…

Unincorporated Dakota County shoreland caps impervious surface coverage at 25% of a lot and requires new development to…

Projects in Maple Grove that create or fully reconstruct one acre or more of impervious surface must develop a full…

Disturbing more than half an acre in Minneapolis requires a city engineer-approved stormwater management plan…

Rochester regulates what may enter its municipal storm sewer system under City Code Chapter 6-4, adopted to meet…

Disturb more than a quarter acre in Saint Paul and trigger site plan review, or clear an acre or more for construction…

Countywide, Section 6.19 of Zoning Ordinance 62 lets stormwater management proceed without a separate permit only if a…

Stearns County requires a stormwater pollution prevention plan for new development in the unincorporated area that adds…

New subdivisions in Washington County cannot increase runoff: Development Code Chapter Three, Section 10.3 caps…

Woodbury bars developing or redeveloping land for residential, commercial, industrial, or institutional use without…

MPCA's NPDES Construction Stormwater General Permit, authorized under Minn. Stat. Ch. 115, applies statewide to…

Anoka County requires a grading and filling permit for any unincorporated shoreland work moving more than 10 cubic…

Carver County requires an erosion control permit for any construction activity of one acre or more, or smaller projects…

Dakota County requires grading and filling on unincorporated shoreland to expose the smallest amount of bare ground for…

Right-of-way permit holders in Hennepin County must use Best Management Practices to control erosion, sediment, and…

Maple Grove requires all land-disturbing and land-filling work, including new home lot prep, to be done in a way that…

Minneapolis requires an erosion and sediment control permit for any land-disturbing activity that moves more than 5…

Olmsted County's zoning ordinance limits soil loss from construction and land clearing to five tons per acre per year…

Rochester requires a grading permit before any grading work and ties new-building permits to completed erosion and…

Saint Paul requires a grading permit before moving more than fifty cubic yards of fill, and every grading job must…

Any land alteration within 300 feet of a lake or river in unincorporated St. Louis County, whether or not it needs a…

Stearns County requires an erosion and sediment control plan before construction of a new plat, or a commercial or…

Washington County requires erosion and sediment control on construction sites under Development Code Chapter Three…

Every site under active land disturbance in Woodbury must install and maintain erosion and sediment controls under City…

Development along Minnesota's Lake Superior shoreland outside Duluth must meet the standards in the North Shore…

Scott County has no coast. Development near the lakes and the Minnesota River follows MN DNR shoreland rules (MN Rules…

Wright County has no coast. Development near the lakes and the Mississippi River follows MN DNR shoreland rules (MN…

Minnesota Statutes sections 103F.101 to 103F.155 require all communities with mapped flood hazard areas to adopt…

Carver County overlays Floodway, Flood Fringe, and General Floodplain Districts on mapped land under § 152.144-152.149…

Hennepin County will not permit a subsurface sewage treatment system located in a floodway, and floodplain siting must…

Maple Grove restricts development inside its mapped floodway, flood fringe, and general floodplain districts to uses…

Building, filling, or grading in a mapped Floodway or Flood Fringe District requires a zoning permit, and structures…

St. Louis County Floodplain Ordinance No. 69 requires a permit from the Director before any building, fence, pool…

Stearns County overlays a Floodplain Overlay District on the floodway, flood fringe and general floodplain areas of the…

Washington County regulates development in mapped floodplains across its unincorporated areas under Development Code…

Woodbury's floodplain chapter applies to any land the official zoning map shows inside a floodway or flood fringe…

Unincorporated Dakota County splits its floodplain into Floodway, Flood Fringe and General Floodplain Districts based…

Olmsted County participates in the FEMA National Flood Insurance Program and administers floodplain rules through…

Saint Paul's floodplain management overlay, Chapter 68, covers every parcel the FEMA flood insurance rate map places in…

Anoka County has no floodplain ordinance of its own. The County Board repealed its 1980s/1990s Floodplain Management…

Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board bars boats from landing, launching, docking, mooring, or anchoring along…

Stearns County caps docks on subdivision common-access lots in its shoreland zoning: Ordinance 439 Section 10.2.12.C…

Docks wider than eight feet on unincorporated Dakota County shoreland need a shoreland building permit from the Zoning…

Olmsted County's shoreland zoning code caps water-oriented accessory structures like docks, boathouses and watercraft…

Carver County's shoreland code does not regulate permanent or seasonal docks or private boat ramps. Under § 152.114(C)…

Maple Grove prohibits idling or testing a vehicle engine loudly enough to be plainly audible at the property line or 50…

Minneapolis caps vehicle idling at three consecutive minutes per hour under Chapter 58, with longer limits for…

Saint Paul declared a climate emergency and adopted CARP in 2019, setting carbon-neutrality by 2050 and shaping…

In the Flood Fringe District, Carver County requires the lowest floor of every structure, including accessory…

In unincorporated Washington County, new and improved structures in the flood fringe must be built with their lowest…

Where floodplain regulatory elevations don't already control, Anoka County's Shoreland Management Ordinance requires…

In the unincorporated Flood Fringe District, Dakota County requires new structures to be built on non-settling fill…

Maple Grove requires new floodplain structures to sit at least one foot above the base regional flood elevation, the…

New and substantially improved structures in Minneapolis's Flood Fringe District must be elevated on fill so the lowest…

Saint Paul defines the 'regulatory flood protection elevation' as at least 2 feet above the regional (100-year) flood's…

St. Louis County sets its Regulatory Flood Protection Elevation (RFPE) at one foot above the base flood elevation, plus…

Stearns County requires new and substantially improved structures in the Floodplain Overlay District to sit at or above…

Woodbury requires one foot of freeboard above the regional (100-year) flood elevation. City Code Sec. 25-6 sets the…