Buying Land in Lee County, Iowa

Two county seats, one county: what that means for land-use administration

Lee County is unique among Iowa's 99 counties in having two separate, legally distinct county seats: Fort Madison, established in 1837 and serving North Lee, and Keokuk, established as a second seat in 1848 by special act of the Iowa General Assembly, serving South Lee. The dividing line follows the Sullivan Line, drawn by surveyor J.C. Sullivan in 1816 as part of the original Missouri-Iowa boundary survey. This isn't just historical trivia -- several county offices maintain a presence in both cities. The Assessor's office, for example, has a primary office at 933 Avenue H in Fort Madison (319-372-6302) and a second office at 25 North 7th Street in Keokuk (319-524-1375), and the Health Department similarly maintains offices in both cities.

For zoning and general ordinance questions, we could not identify a single, separately-named 'Planning and Development' department of the kind many larger or faster-growing Iowa counties maintain. The County Auditor's office in Fort Madison (319-372-3705) is confirmed as the official custodian of Lee County's Code of Ordinances, and the County Engineer's office (319-372-2541, Engineer@LeeCounty.org) handles secondary roads, road-related permits, and related infrastructure. As with any Iowa county, the county's zoning ordinance for the unincorporated area operates under the framework of Iowa Code Chapter 335, with a Board of Adjustment and (per the county's own airport-zoning materials) an active Airport Zoning Commission. Before relying on any specific zoning determination, confirm directly with the county which office currently handles it -- the administrative structure here is genuinely less consolidated than in counties with a dedicated planning department, and that's a real practical difference for a buyer trying to figure out who to call.

Wells and septic: the Lee County Health Department

Private well and septic permitting in Lee County runs through the Lee County Health Department, headquartered at 5001 Avenue O in Fort Madison (319-372-5225, leecountyhd.org), with a second office at 25 North 7th Street in Keokuk (319-524-1375) for South Lee. The department's environmental health program handles septic system site evaluations, permitting, and inspections, along with private well permitting, food safety, and housing-safety inspections. This is a clearer, more consolidated picture than the general zoning/permitting structure -- if you're planning a new well or septic system anywhere in the county, this department is your starting point regardless of which side of the Sullivan Line the parcel sits on.

Wind, solar, and battery energy: a purpose-built ordinance and Iowa's largest solar project

Lee County has adopted Chapter 13 of Title VI (Property and Land Use) of its Code of Ordinances, specifically titled Regulations for the Siting and Operation of Wind, Solar, and Battery Energy Systems, applying to commercial wind, solar, and battery storage systems (C-WES, C-SES, C-BESS) sited in unincorporated Lee County. The ordinance sets standards including a 15-foot height limit on solar arrays, requires decommissioning plans backed by financial security, and allows landowner-signed waivers of certain setback requirements. This isn't a theoretical framework: Lee County is now home to the Wever Solar Project, an Alliant Energy development covering roughly 900 acres and generating 150 megawatts across two arrays (90 MW and 60 MW, sited about four miles apart), which went into service in November 2024 and is reported as the largest solar development in Iowa history. Notably, part of the project sits within the floodplain between the Skunk and Mississippi Rivers, and required a 500-year flood-preparedness drainage system as part of its design.

For a land buyer, the practical takeaway is twofold: first, Lee County has a real, working regulatory framework for utility-scale energy projects rather than an ad hoc case-by-case process, which is useful to know if you're evaluating a lease offer from a solar or battery-storage developer; second, the presence of a major operating project confirms this land is genuinely attractive to utility-scale energy developers, which can affect land values and negotiating leverage differently than in a county with no comparable project. See our dedicated page on wind and solar leasing in Lee County for the ordinance's specific setback, decommissioning-bond, and application details.

The Mississippi River and floodplain risk

The Mississippi River forms the entire eastern boundary of Lee County, running past both Fort Madison and Keokuk, and floodplain status is a real consideration for river-adjacent parcels. The USGS stream gauge at Keokuk recorded a peak discharge of 446,000 cubic feet per second during the July 1993 flood, with a gage height of 27.58 feet -- a documented, quantified historical event rather than a theoretical risk. Current FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps for Lee County reflect Iowa's statewide floodplain remapping effort, which followed the 2008 floods and used LiDAR-based modeling for counties along major rivers. If you're evaluating a parcel near the Mississippi River in either North or South Lee, pull the current FIRM for that specific parcel and confirm floodplain status and any building or floodplain-development permit requirements directly with the county rather than assuming distance from the visible riverbank settles the question.

Agriculture, land market, and recreational land

Lee County's 2022 Census of Agriculture data shows a farm-size distribution weighted toward small and mid-size operations: roughly 42 farms of 1-9 acres, 187 farms of 10-49 acres, 265 farms of 50-179 acres, 185 farms of 180-499 acres, 83 farms of 500-999 acres, and 42 farms of 1,000-plus acres -- a broad base of smaller acreages alongside a meaningful number of large operations. Iowa's average farmland value statewide runs in the low five figures per acre; Lee County's average farmland value has run in the $10,000-$14,000-plus per-acre range in recent years, with the specific figure varying by land-market data aggregator and year. For recreational land buyers, Shimek State Forest -- Iowa's largest contiguous state-owned forest, spanning Lee and neighboring Van Buren counties across five units totaling roughly 9,000-plus acres -- offers public hunting, hiking, and equestrian access outside the campground areas, and is a genuine amenity for anyone evaluating nearby private timber or recreational parcels.