North Dakota

Buying Land in McIntosh County, North Dakota

One of North Dakota's smallest counties by population, McIntosh sits on the South Dakota border well outside the Bakken oil counties -- so mineral-rights complications are not the primary issue here. What is genuinely distinct: the county has adopted its own zoning ordinance with a specific, unusual wind-turbine setback rule, and septic permitting runs through a district health office based two counties away in Jamestown.

McIntosh County Has Adopted Its Own Countywide Zoning Ordinance

Generally favorable

Unlike some other lightly-populated North Dakota counties where zoning is left entirely to individual townships or simply never adopted, McIntosh County has its own zoning ordinance administered by a county Planning and Zoning Commission, working from a document originally modeled on Divide County's ordinance. This gives a buyer a single county office to check rather than having to track down a specific township's rules -- confirm current zoning district and permitted uses for a specific parcel with the county directly, since the ordinance's district map and text can be amended.

A Specific, Unusual Wind-Turbine Setback Rule

Case-by-case / verify locally

McIntosh County's zoning ordinance includes a three-mile setback requirement between a wind turbine and a residential structure -- a considerably larger buffer than the setbacks used in many other counties' wind ordinances. The ordinance does provide a waiver mechanism: a landowner who wants to host a turbine closer to their own home can agree to reduce that setback distance for their own property. If a parcel's development plans involve wind energy, or if wind development is active nearby and could affect a residence you're planning to build, confirm the current setback distance and waiver procedure directly with the county -- do not assume a smaller, more typical setback applies.

A Minimum Acreage Threshold for Livestock and Poultry

Case-by-case / verify locally

County zoning restricts keeping poultry or livestock on lots below a minimum size (reported at three acres). This matters for a buyer planning a small acreage with animals, hobby farming, or a rural homestead on a lot smaller than that threshold -- confirm the current minimum lot size and any exceptions directly with the county Planning and Zoning office before assuming a small parcel can support livestock.

Septic Runs Through a Multi-County District Office, Not a County Health Department

Case-by-case / verify locally

Onsite sewage system permitting for McIntosh County is handled by the Central Valley Health District, a regional environmental health office based in Jamestown that also serves Barnes, Dickey, Foster, LaMoure, Logan, Stutsman, and Wells counties -- not by a McIntosh-based environmental health department. (McIntosh County does have its own general public-health office, the McIntosh District Health Unit in Ashley, but that is a separate function from septic permitting.) Confirm which office currently issues septic permits before assuming your local county courthouse handles it directly.

County-adopted zoning: a Divide County-derived ordinance with a distinctive wind setback

McIntosh County took the relatively less common step, for a county this size, of adopting its own countywide zoning ordinance rather than leaving land use entirely to individual townships or going without zoning altogether. The county's Planning and Zoning Commission administers an ordinance whose original text was based on a document shared from Divide County -- a common pattern among smaller North Dakota counties that don't have the staff to draft a zoning code from scratch, but one that means a buyer should read McIntosh's specific version rather than assume it mirrors any other county's rules exactly.

The most notable specific provision is a three-mile setback between any wind turbine and a residential structure, considerably larger than typical setback distances used elsewhere, though the ordinance allows a landowner to voluntarily shorten that distance for a turbine on their own property through a formal agreement. Separately, the ordinance sets a minimum lot size (reported at three acres) below which poultry and livestock are not permitted -- relevant to anyone planning a smaller acreage with animals. Given how specific and locally tailored these provisions are, and that ordinances get amended, verify the current text and any recent changes directly with the county rather than relying on a secondhand summary, including this one.

A settlement history that still shapes how the land was platted

McIntosh County has one of the most concentrated German-Russian heritage populations of any county in the country -- more than three-quarters of residents reported German ancestry as of the 2010 census, tracing back to Germans who had settled in the Odessa region of South Russia under Catherine the Great before emigrating to McIntosh County beginning shortly after the county's 1884 organization and continuing through World War I. Less widely known: the area around Ashley (the county seat) was also home to the largest Jewish agricultural settlement in North Dakota, with more than 400 Jewish homesteaders working roughly 85 farms in the surrounding township sections before the community dispersed; the Ashley Jewish Homesteaders Cemetery remains as the physical record of that settlement today.

This history is relevant to a land buyer mainly as context for how the county's original homestead-era parceling took shape -- expect the typical section/quarter-section grid common to Dakota Territory homestead patterns, with some older, smaller legacy parcels near original homestead sites. It doesn't change any current regulatory requirement, but it's useful background when researching a specific parcel's chain of title or unusual boundary lines that don't match a clean quarter-section.

What we could and couldn't confirm

The description of McIntosh County's zoning ordinance (Divide County-derived text, three-mile wind-turbine setback with waiver, and minimum-acreage livestock threshold) is drawn from secondary reporting and search-indexed summaries of county records rather than a direct read of the current ordinance's full text, since the document was not independently retrievable at the time of writing. Treat the setback figure and acreage threshold as directionally accurate but confirm the exact current wording, any amendments, and the applicable zoning district for a specific parcel directly with the McIntosh County Planning and Zoning Commission before relying on it.

Verify directly with: the McIntosh County Planning and Zoning Commission for the current zoning ordinance and district map, and Central Valley Health District for septic permitting

Who to Call Before Buying Land in McIntosh County

The county's own public-facing zoning ordinance text is not published for general download on the county website; contact the Planning and Zoning office directly for the current ordinance and district map. A verified direct phone number for the McIntosh County Recorder's office was not available from public sources at the time of writing -- confirm current contact details through the county's official website or by calling the McIntosh County Auditor's office at the courthouse. The McIntosh District Health Unit (general public health, Ashley) is separate from Central Valley Health District (environmental health/septic, Jamestown) -- don't assume one office handles both functions.

Planning & Zoning

McIntosh County Planning and Zoning Commission

Current zoning district and permitted uses for a specific parcel, the wind-turbine setback ordinance and waiver process, and the minimum-acreage threshold for keeping livestock or poultry.

Phone: (701) 288-3243Official website →

Septic / Onsite Wastewater