South Dakota

Buying Land in Deuel County, South Dakota

East-central South Dakota's Deuel County, seat Clear Lake, is an exception to the many-counties-have-no-zoning pattern described on our South Dakota state page -- it adopted a comprehensive plan and zoning ordinance in 2004. It's also become a real utility-scale wind-energy county, with turbine setback rules that have been litigated to the state's highest court more than once.

Zoning Ordinance Adopted and Active Since 2004

Generally favorable

Unlike many rural South Dakota counties that have never adopted zoning (see the state hub), Deuel County adopted a Comprehensive Land Use Plan and a Zoning Ordinance (#2004-1) in April and July 2004, respectively, and actively administers both through a county Zoning Officer and Planning Commission. This means a specific parcel here does sit in a mapped zoning district with real use, setback, and permit requirements -- confirm the district and applicable standards for your parcel with the Zoning Office before assuming any particular use is allowed.

Active Utility-Scale Wind Energy Development

Case-by-case / verify locally

Deuel County hosts the 300 MW Deuel Harvest Wind Energy facility (109 turbines, commercial operation since February 2021, now owned by Southern Power), and a second, roughly 260 MW phase -- Deuel Harvest Wind Energy South -- was permitted through the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission in 2024-2025. If you're buying land near existing or proposed turbine strings, confirm whether the parcel carries (or is near a neighbor's) wind lease or easement, and understand the county's turbine setback rules before assuming a given use or building site is unaffected.

Wind Turbine Setbacks Have Been Litigated to the State Supreme Court

Case-by-case / verify locally

Deuel County's Zoning Ordinance Section 1215 (Wind Energy System requirements) sets a minimum setback of four times turbine height from non-participating residences and businesses, tightened further by county amendments in 2016 and 2017. These standards, and the county's application of them through special-exception permits, were directly challenged and decided by the South Dakota Supreme Court in Holborn v. Deuel County Board of Adjustment (2021 S.D. 6) and Ehlebracht v. Deuel County Planning Commission (2022) -- real, decided disputes over how close a turbine can sit to a non-participating landowner. If your parcel is near a wind project, get the current setback distance and your parcel's status (participating vs. non-participating) confirmed in writing by the Zoning Office.

A zoned county, with a real land-use and permit framework

Deuel County is a useful counterpoint to the general South Dakota pattern of counties without zoning: it adopted a Comprehensive Land Use Plan in April 2004 and a Zoning Ordinance (Ordinance #2004-1) in July 2004, and both remain in force. The county's Zoning Officer, appointed by the Board of County Commissioners, administers permits for structures, shelterbelts, fireworks, and concentrated animal feeding operations, and enforces the ordinance; a Planning Commission and a separate Board of Adjustment handle plat approvals, special exceptions, and variance requests before matters go to the county commissioners. For a buyer, this means Deuel County parcels sit within an actual zoning district with defined uses and setbacks, rather than the unzoned, subdivision-ordinance-only framework common elsewhere in rural South Dakota -- so a change of use, a new structure, or a plat split here genuinely requires zoning review, not just a building permit.

That said, having zoning doesn't mean every question is simple -- as the litigation below shows, applying detailed standards (like wind turbine setbacks) to real parcels has produced genuine legal disputes in this county. Anyone buying land here, whether for a home site, agricultural use, or a rural subdivision, should pull the current zoning map and district text for the specific parcel directly from the Zoning Office rather than assuming a use is permitted based on how a neighboring or similar-looking parcel is used.

Wind energy: a real land-use and neighbor-relations factor here

Deuel County has become one of South Dakota's more visible wind-energy counties. The Deuel Harvest Wind Energy facility -- 109 GE turbines totaling 300 megawatts, developed by Invenergy and now owned by Southern Power -- reached commercial operation in February 2021. A second phase, Deuel Harvest Wind Energy South, was permitted by the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission in early 2025 (see the wind-and-solar-leasing page linked below for that project's specific numbers and permit conditions). For a land buyer, wind development can mean opportunity (a per-turbine or per-acre lease payment if your land participates) or friction (setback, noise, shadow-flicker, and property-value concerns for a neighboring, non-participating parcel) -- and Deuel County's own ordinance draws a real, litigated line between the two: Zoning Ordinance Section 1215 requires wind turbines to sit back at least four times their height from non-participating residences and businesses, tightened further in 2016 and 2017.

This isn't an abstract rule -- Deuel County's wind-siting decisions have been appealed to the South Dakota Supreme Court more than once, including Holborn v. Deuel County Board of Adjustment (2021 S.D. 6) and Ehlebracht v. Deuel County Planning Commission (2022), both testing how the county's special-exception and setback standards apply to actual turbine siting decisions. If you're evaluating a parcel near an existing or proposed wind project, ask the Zoning Office directly (1) which zoning district and setback standard currently applies, (2) whether your parcel or an adjoining one carries a wind lease or easement of record, and (3) whether any pending permit applications affect the area -- and have a title company confirm any recorded wind easements as part of the purchase, since an easement running with the land can outlast a change in ownership.

What we could and couldn't confirm

Deuel County's zoning-adoption date (2004), Wind Energy System setback standard (Section 1215, four times turbine height, tightened 2016-2017), and the two South Dakota Supreme Court cases testing that standard were each confirmed through the county's own published ordinance summaries and the court opinions themselves, not inferred from a similar-sounding county. Wind project capacity and timeline figures (300 MW Deuel Harvest, ~260 MW Deuel Harvest South) come from the developer/owner and SD PUC docket materials; treat exact turbine counts and in-service dates for the second phase as subject to change until the project is fully built out. We could not independently verify the current Zoning Officer's name or a county-hosted GIS parcel viewer; confirm both directly with the county.

Verify directly with: the Deuel County Planning and Zoning Office for zoning district, setback, and wind-easement questions on a specific parcel, and a title company for confirming recorded wind leases or easements

Who to Call Before Buying Land in Deuel County

We could not confirm a direct email address or the current officeholder's name for the Planning and Zoning Office, or a county-run GIS/parcel-viewer site independent of third-party parcel-data aggregators (AcreValue, Regrid) -- ask the Auditor's or Zoning Office for the current GIS resource, if any, when you call. Septic/on-site wastewater permitting authority within the county was not independently confirmed to sit with the Zoning Office versus a separate environmental health function; confirm directly.

Planning & Zoning

Deuel County Planning and Zoning Office

Zoning district and setback confirmation, building and CAFO permits, plat and special-exception review, and wind energy system (Section 1215) setback questions.

Phone: (605) 874-8562Official website →