Olmsted County Physical Development is responsible for zoning enforcement for various portions of Olmsted County. Zoning enforcement is how local governments make sure that people and businesses follow the rules about how land and buildings can be used. These rules—called zoning ordinances—say what kinds of things can happen in different areas, like where homes, stores, factories, or farms can be built.

Think of it like this: zoning is the community’s way of organizing land use so that neighborhoods stay livable, traffic doesn’t get out of control, and the environment is protected. Enforcement is how we make sure everyone plays by those rules. To that end, we have created this form to make it easy for you to submit any incidents or issues related to property use or zoning issues within Olmsted County. 

Some typical zoning enforcement issues include:

• Building without a permit.
• Using land for something not allowed in that zone (like running a business in a residential area).
• Ignoring rules about building height, fences, or how far structures must be from property lines