From January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015, Cook County Office of Planning and Zoning issued 144 land use permits, an increase of 4 percent over 2014, said Cook County’s Land Use Permits and Wetlands Administrator David Demmer to Cook County Commissioners at the Feb. 23 meeting.
While that number was considered good, it is nowhere close to the 200 (or more) permits issued in 2007 after the Ham Lake Fire.
Demmer’s year-end report detailed permits, variances, re-zoning, subdivision, septic activity and enforcement cases, and he included a trending analysis from 2009 to present.
Of the 144 land use permits awarded to different districts throughout the county, 41 were for Caribou, 39 for Hovland, 26 for Cascade, 15 for Sawbill, 13 for Maple Hill, 9 for Gunflint and 1 for Grand Portage.
Sixty-three percent of all permits were issued within shoreland areas, and 25 percent of those were for Lake Superior.
Inland, Caribou Lake received 9 permits, Gunflint Lake 6, Tom Lake 6, Devil Track 3, the tributary to Cut Face Creek 3, Greenwood 4 and 24 were issued to other lakes or rivers.
One trend, said Demmer, was a surprise in the downturn of building/land permits issued for Devil Track Lake, which for a long time led area lakes in permits.
Commissioner Board Chair Heidi Doo-Kirk asked Demmer if the county had records for interior remodeling that has gone on in the county, and Demmer said no.
Over the last year Demmer said 69 septic systems had been inspected, with 19 found to be non-compliant, a 28 percent rate that is the lowest seen in many years. Demmer attributed that to the county’s loan program to help home/ cabin owners get their septics in compliance.
He said most of those inspections happened when a property was being sold.
Last year the county okayed 10 onsite sign permits and 16 off premise sign permits.
The county now has one wetland bank and two more “in the hopper,” said Demmer.
Cook County has 22.48 wetland credits available. Last year 27 wetland applications were granted and 12 needed wetland delineations. A little more than one-half acre (between two separate parcels) needed wetland credits. Demmer said Cook County has about 10 percent of its area that is considered wetlands.
Nine conditional use permits were granted, two for gravel pits, one for an ARMER Tower, one for a duplex, two for amendments to planned unit developments, one for a commercial building with residence, one for supplemental plat, and one for a 6- to 15-unit development for the town of Tofte.
Mostly, said Demmer, the county has issued about the same amount of land use permits since 2009, and many of the trends seen today have been fairly consistent with what has happened over the last half dozen years.
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