Minnesota

Buying Land in Redwood County, Minnesota

Redwood County, seat Redwood Falls, administers its own countywide Zoning Ordinance through a named Environmental Office staff -- a real, active department, not a bare shoreland backstop. The county is also one of three (with Murray and Cottonwood counties) hosting the Plum Creek Wind project, a 230-megawatt, up-to-77-turbine wind farm that cleared its state permits back in 2021 but was suspended by its developer in 2025, citing cost disagreements, interconnection delays, and federal tariffs -- a concrete, current reminder that state permitting is necessary but not sufficient for a large energy project to actually get built on leased farmland.

A Real County Zoning Ordinance With a Named, Reachable Staff

Generally favorable

Redwood County's Department of Planning and Environmental Services (Director Nick Brozek; Land Use and Zoning Supervisor Jeanette Pidde) administers a countywide Zoning Ordinance for unincorporated land. The City of Redwood Falls' own planning page explicitly directs anyone building outside city limits to the county's Land Use and Zoning Supervisor at (507) 637-4023, a genuine and checkable division of labor between city and county planning here. This is a real, staffed office rather than a nominal ordinance with no active administration -- confirm zoning district, building-permit requirements, and any conditional-use or variance process directly with that office for a specific unincorporated parcel.

The County's Renewable-Energy Ordinance Requires a Decommissioning Bond

Generally favorable

Redwood County's Zoning Ordinance includes a dedicated renewable-energy regulations chapter treating solar and wind as principal and accessory land uses, and requires a decommissioning bond covering 25% of a renewable-energy facility's decommissioning costs -- a real, checkable local safeguard for landowners near, or considering leasing land to, a solar or wind project. For a specific parcel near a proposed energy project, confirm the current bonding requirement and any setback standards directly with the county's Environmental Office rather than assuming generic statewide figures apply.

Plum Creek Wind: State-Permitted Since 2021, Suspended in 2025

Case-by-case / verify locally

The Plum Creek Wind project -- up to 77 turbines and 230 megawatts of wind generation, plus a proposed 150-megawatt battery storage addition, on farmland across Redwood, Murray, and Cottonwood counties -- already cleared two key Minnesota Public Utilities Commission permits back in 2021, and construction had reportedly been set to begin in fall 2025. In an April 25, 2025 letter to the PUC, developer National Grid Renewables suspended the project, citing cost disagreements and grid-interconnection-study delays; contemporaneous Star Tribune reporting (May 14, 2025) noted 2025 federal tariffs as a contributing, though not the top-stated, factor, per the company's own spokesperson. For anyone evaluating Redwood County farmland currently or potentially under a wind lease or easement tied to this or a similar project, the practical lesson is concrete: full state permitting years earlier is not a guarantee construction actually proceeds on the announced timeline, or at all -- confirm a specific parcel's current lease/easement status and the project's latest status directly with the landowner, the developer, or the PUC's project docket rather than assuming a permitted project is a built project.

Zoning outside city limits: a real county office, plus a renewable-energy ordinance

Redwood County administers a genuine countywide Zoning Ordinance for unincorporated land through its Department of Planning and Environmental Services, led by Director Nick Brozek with Jeanette Pidde as Land Use and Zoning Supervisor. This is a real, named, staffed office rather than a bare ordinance with unclear administration -- and the division of labor with the City of Redwood Falls is explicit: the city's own planning department handles zoning and building permits inside city limits (reachable at 507-616-7400), while the county's Land Use and Zoning Supervisor (507-637-4023) is the correct first call for anything outside them. The county's zoning ordinance also includes a dedicated Chapter 15 covering renewable energy regulations, treating both solar and wind as principal and accessory uses and requiring a decommissioning bond equal to 25% of a facility's estimated decommissioning cost -- a concrete, checkable local protection for landowners near an existing or proposed energy installation.

We were not able to independently confirm whether Redwood County's shoreland ordinance provisions exceed Minnesota's statewide Rule 6120 minimum setbacks described on our state hub page, or confirm which local government unit formally administers Wetland Conservation Act determinations countywide -- both are disclosed as gaps below rather than assumed. A buyer evaluating a specific Redwood County parcel, particularly one along the Redwood or Minnesota Rivers, should confirm current shoreland classification and WCA jurisdiction directly with the county's Environmental Office.

Wind energy on the ground: Plum Creek shows permitted is not the same as built

Redwood County farmland has been directly in play for utility-scale wind development for years. The Plum Creek Wind project -- up to 77 turbines delivering 230 megawatts, spanning farmland in Redwood, Murray, and Cottonwood counties, with a proposed 150-megawatt battery-storage addition -- received two key approvals from Minnesota state regulators back in 2021, well ahead of most projects still working through the permitting process. Construction had reportedly been scheduled to begin as early as fall 2025. That timeline changed: in an April 25, 2025 letter to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, developer National Grid Renewables suspended the project, citing cost disagreements with its interconnection process and delays in the required studies to connect the project to the Midwest's regional grid. Contemporaneous Star Tribune reporting (published May 14, 2025) also noted the company's spokesperson acknowledging that 2025 federal tariffs, while not the top-stated factor, had exacerbated an already difficult cost picture.

For anyone evaluating Redwood County land under, or being pitched, a wind or solar lease or easement, this is a genuinely useful, current, and checkable data point: a project that cleared its state permits four years earlier and had a public construction start date was still paused by market and grid conditions well after permitting was complete. That doesn't mean wind or solar development in Redwood County has stalled generally -- state and county renewable-energy rules (including the county's own 25%-of-cost decommissioning bond requirement) remain in place and other projects continue to move through Minnesota's permitting pipeline -- but it is a concrete reminder to confirm the current, real-world status of any specific lease or project affecting a target parcel directly with the landowner, the developer, or the PUC's public project docket, rather than relying on a permit-approval date alone.

What we could and couldn't confirm

Redwood County's zoning-office structure, named staff, and the city/county division of labor for building permits are drawn from the county's own Environmental Office page and the City of Redwood Falls' own planning page, which explicitly directs building-outside-city-limits questions to the county's Land Use and Zoning Supervisor. The renewable-energy ordinance's 25%-decommissioning-bond requirement is drawn from a search-result description of the county's posted Chapter 15 ordinance PDF; we did not independently open and read that full PDF line-by-line and disclose that as a secondary-description gap. The Plum Creek Wind project's scope (up to 77 turbines, 230 MW, three-county footprint, 2021 state permit approvals, 150 MW proposed storage addition) and its April 2025 suspension (cost disagreements, interconnection delays, tariffs as a contributing factor per the company spokesperson) are drawn from multiple contemporaneous news sources including the Star Tribune's May 14, 2025 report, which we treat as reliable given independent corroboration across several outlets; we did not confirm whether the project has since been formally cancelled, resumed, or remains in suspended status as of this review, and disclose that as a residual gap given how quickly a suspended project's status can change. We could not confirm whether Redwood County's shoreland ordinance exceeds the statewide Rule 6120 minimum or identify the county's Wetland Conservation Act LGU, and disclose both in officialContactsNote.

Verify directly with: Redwood County's Land Use and Zoning Supervisor for zoning district, building permits, shoreland classification, and renewable-energy ordinance questions on a specific unincorporated parcel; the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission's public project docket (EERA project search) for the current, up-to-date status of the Plum Creek Wind project or any other energy project affecting a specific parcel; and the county Assessor and Recorder directly for current parcel-level tax and title information

Who to Call Before Buying Land in Redwood County

We could not confirm direct public email addresses for any Redwood County department listed above -- confirm current email contacts by phone with each office. We also could not confirm a direct phone number for the county's GIS/mapping function separate from its assessor and the third-party-hosted qpublic parcel-map portal linked above, and could not independently confirm whether Redwood County's shoreland ordinance exceeds the statewide minimum setbacks described on our Minnesota state hub, or which local government unit formally administers Wetland Conservation Act determinations countywide -- confirm both directly with the county's Land Use and Zoning office for a specific parcel.

Planning & Zoning

Redwood County Land Use and Zoning (Department of Planning and Environmental Services)

Zoning district, building permits, and renewable-energy ordinance questions for unincorporated Redwood County parcels.

Phone: (507) 637-4023Official website →

Assessor / Property Tax

Redwood County Assessor

Assessed value and property classification for a specific parcel.

Phone: (507) 637-4008Official website →

Recorder / Clerk / Land Records

Redwood County Recorder

Recorded deeds, easements, and plat history for a specific parcel.

Phone: (507) 637-4032Official website →

Other

Redwood County Auditor/Treasurer

Property tax statements, payments, and tax-forfeited land questions.

Phone: (507) 637-4013Official website →

GIS / Parcel Records

Redwood County GIS / Property Maps

Parcel maps and GIS data for a specific address or parcel.

Official website →

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Topics Specific to Redwood County

Tribal Trust Land Status in Redwood County, Minnesota →

Sources

Environmental Office — Redwood County, Minnesota Government (accessed 2026-09)
Redwood County Zoning Ordinance (draft/reference) — Redwood County, Minnesota Government (accessed 2026-09)
Planning & Zoning — City of Redwood Falls, Minnesota (accessed 2026-09)
Planning/Zoning — Redwood County Economic Development Authority (accessed 2026-09)
Redwood County | Energy Zoning — Energy Zoning (RESOURCE/national energy-siting database) (accessed 2026-09)
Clean-energy developer suspends wind project in Minnesota, cites tariffs as a factor — Star Tribune (accessed 2026-09)
Wind project suspended in southwest Minnesota — Mankato Free Press (accessed 2026-09)
Wind project in Minnesota on hold as costs rise — Wind-Watch (aggregating regional coverage) (accessed 2026-09)
Auditor / Treasurer — Redwood County, Minnesota Government (accessed 2026-09)
Assessor's Office — Redwood County, Minnesota Government (accessed 2026-09)

Last reviewed 2026-09