Buying Land in Logan County, North Dakota

Countywide zoning, actively rewritten for wind energy

Logan County is one of the North Dakota counties that has exercised the discretionary countywide zoning authority described at the state level -- its Zoning Regulations date to 2006 and have been amended multiple times since, most recently on April 9, 2025. What makes Logan's ordinance distinctive is what drove that most recent round of amendments: after nearly two years of public process, the county adopted updated regulations specifically governing wind-turbine installation, maintenance, and decommissioning. The ordinance defines a "Wind Turbine" subject to permitting as any wind energy conversion system with a nameplate capacity of 100 kilowatts or greater, and requires a Wind Energy Facility Siting Permit for qualifying projects. The same ordinance separately requires County Zoning Commission approval for solid waste sites and for salvage or junk yards.

As with several other small counties on this site, there's no standalone Planning & Zoning Department -- permits are issued through the County Auditor's Office (sometimes described locally as the Code Administrator function), working with an appointed County Zoning Commission for conditional use and siting matters. Confirm current district boundaries, permitted uses, and any wind-related overlay requirements directly for a specific parcel.

Two utility-scale wind projects: one operating, one still being finalized

Logan County already hosts real utility-scale wind development, and that's directly relevant to anyone buying land here. The Emmons-Logan Wind project -- roughly 200 MW, about 80 GE-manufactured turbines, owned by a NextEra Energy Resources subsidiary -- has been operating in the county since the early 2010s. A parcel within or adjacent to this project's turbine layout may carry a recorded wind lease, easement, access agreement, or setback restriction tied to the project; this should be checked against the title and recorded documents for a specific tract rather than assumed either way.

A second, larger project -- Badger Wind, developed by Ørsted -- spans western Logan County and neighboring McIntosh County. Logan County issued the project a Conditional Use Permit in May 2022, and the state Public Service Commission granted an original Certificate of Site Compatibility (Case PU-22-086) later that year for a project description of up to roughly 100 turbine generators and around 250 MW of capacity, with fewer turbines ultimately planned to be built than originally proposed. As of the amended application working through PSC review in Case 24-0087 (2024-2025), the project boundary and turbine layout were still being revised -- meaning the precise final footprint in western Logan County was not fully settled at the time of this writing. A buyer considering land in that part of the county should check the current case status with the PSC and confirm with the county whether a specific parcel falls inside the project area.

Septic and environmental health: shared with LaMoure through Central Valley Health District

Logan County does not run its own septic-permitting department. It's one of eight counties -- alongside Barnes, Dickey, Foster, LaMoure, McIntosh, Stutsman, and Wells -- served by the Central Valley Health District, headquartered in Jamestown with a satellite office in Napoleon (the Logan County seat). Septic (onsite wastewater) permits, inspections, and environmental health questions for a Logan County parcel go through that regional district, layered on top of the state-level licensing framework the state hub already covers.