Clay County Commission

Dan Haglund

Matt Jacobson, the Clay County Planning and Zoning director, presented his annual audit report to the Clay County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday in Moorhead.
Jacobson first gave a brief overview of his department’s vision, goals and duties, then got into the numbers.
Overall, the Clay County Planning and Zoning Department creates a comprehensive plan and development code, sets standards for building permits, land alteration permits in shoreland areas and in minor subdivisions, and staffs multiple county boards. It also is involved with investigations and law enforcement, the Floodplain Administration and the state Shoreland Program.
Jacobson says the bulk of what his department deals with is permitting. He stresses that the department does not have a building code, but rather a zoning code for new construction within the county.
There were 210 building permits last year, the highest total in the past nine years. There were 175 and 172 permits in the previous two years. Even so, permits for new dwellings were the lowest during the same nine-year period, with only 25.
The average permit building valuation in 2023 was more than $131,000, bout average for the past nine years. But total permit value was well over $160,000, the highest during that time span. Jacobson said in total last year, there was about $27 million in new building development in the county.
Jacobson went over the last six years of subdivisions, recounting the historically low interest rates of 2021 as the main catalyst for 65 total Single-Lot Subdivisions (59) and Boundary Line Adjustments (6). Last year, there were 50 (including 43 new parcels) of these, up from 37 in 2022.
Conditional and Interim Use permits also peaked in 2021 with 35 total. There were 20 such permits last year, down from 31 in 2022. The previous six years averaged about 15-16 per year.
There were 13 permits variance requests in both 2022 and 2023, down from a high of 20 in 2019. These permits are granted to applicants who can present a practical difficulty in fully complying with a current building rule, and not because of a cost issue, and each acceptance or denial is determined on a case-by-case basis.
Zoning violations are way up, as compliance officers have stepped up enforcement in this area. In 2020, there were just over 30 violations, and the number has steadily grown to more than 120 last year.
“About 61 or 62 of those have been resolved,” Jacobson said. “We do have the remainder, though. About half are still active.”
Jacobson said his department tries to work with the landowners, and give them every opportunity to get into compliance.
“Sometimes that does not happen,” he said. “And then there are two avenues to go through with enforcement. You can either go with a misdemeanor. That really doesn’t solve the problem, though. More often than not, we take a civil route,” which can take awhile.
Commissioner Frank Gross, Dist. 2, inquired as to how can someone find out about such violations.
Jacobson said his office gets citizen complains, and building permit assessors check for codes as well. There are also gravel pit inspections for future referral if needed.
Jacobson said his office has also been working in tandem with law enforcement officers who may spot potential violations when they out on duty.
“But most of our violations are driven by citizen complaints,” Jacobson said.
Commissioner Paul Krabbenhoft, Dist. 1, asked if Jacobson if there is one particular area that violations occur most often.
“The biggest one that we see is when someone builds a shed or out building, it’s small and they didn’t think they needed a permit for it,” Jacobson said. “And so then we are a little more lenient with them to get it resolved. That’s probably the No. 1 violation. Very easy to fix.”
But Jacobson said probably every gravel pit in the county has one or more violations.