The Lower St. Croix Riverway Zoning Overlay in Washington County, Minnesota

A federally designated river corridor, not just a state shoreland district

The Lower St. Croix River -- the stretch forming the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin along Washington County's eastern edge -- has carried federal protection since 1972, when an additional 27 miles below the Taylor's Falls dam became the first riverway segment added to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System since the system's creation in 1968. That federal designation is implemented locally through a joint Minnesota/Wisconsin riverway overlay zone: both states adopted zoning standards for a strip of land along the river's shores specifically to preserve its wild and scenic character, restricting building in ways that go beyond what a standard shoreland district requires elsewhere.

How Washington County implements it: two ordinance chapters, not one

Washington County's Development Code translates this into two distinct, stacked chapters. Chapter 5, the Lower St. Croix River Bluffland & Shoreland Management Regulations, applies specifically within the mapped Riverway corridor and governs bluff and shoreland development along the St. Croix itself. Chapter 6, general Shoreland Management Regulations, is the county's standard shoreland ordinance applying to other lakes and rivers in the county's townships. Both function as overlay zoning districts layered on top of a parcel's underlying zoning district (as defined elsewhere in the Development Code), and both classify permitted development into three tiers: primary uses allowed outright, uses allowed with a Certificate of Compliance, and uses allowed only with a Conditional Use Permit.

The practical difference for a buyer: a parcel along the St. Croix itself is not just "in a shoreland district" the way a lakeshore parcel elsewhere in the county's townships might be -- it is inside a federally designated Wild and Scenic river corridor with its own dedicated bluffland chapter, and the review standards, setbacks, and restricted uses under Chapter 5 should not be assumed to match Chapter 6's more generic shoreland rules. Confirm which chapter, and which use tier (primary, Certificate of Compliance, or Conditional Use Permit), applies to your specific plans before assuming a Riverway-adjacent parcel is as flexible as ordinary shoreland.

What the overlay is actually trying to protect

The Riverway's regulatory purpose, as described by Minnesota DNR's own Lower St. Croix Riverway program, is explicitly about protecting water quality, preserving habitat for birds, fish, and wildlife, and maintaining a relatively unspoiled visual character along a river corridor that draws millions of visitors annually. That framing matters for what kind of development questions the county and DNR are actually weighing on a Riverway-adjacent parcel: not just flood risk (the generic FEMA concern most buyers think of first), but visual impact, vegetation and bluff disturbance, and habitat protection -- a broader review lens than a standard floodplain or shoreland check elsewhere in the county.

What this means for your purchase

If you're evaluating land in one of the county's eastern townships (Denmark, May, Stillwater, or West Lakeland, in particular) near the St. Croix River itself, don't assume the county's general Chapter 6 shoreland rules are what apply -- confirm with the Zoning Administrator whether the parcel falls inside the Lower St. Croix Riverway boundary and is therefore governed by Chapter 5's bluffland and shoreland management rules instead. Ask specifically which use tier your plans fall into (primary use, Certificate of Compliance, or Conditional Use Permit) before finalizing a purchase contingent on a particular building plan, since a use that would be straightforward on ordinary shoreland elsewhere in the county can require a much more involved review inside the federally designated corridor.