The Wabasha County Board on June 3 approved a preliminary plat for "Cornerstone Ridge," a roughly 109‑acre subdivision proposed by Brent Beck of Cornerstone Real Estate in Mazeppa Township. The planning commission had recommended approval by a 5‑0 vote.

Joel Larson, the county zoning staff member who introduced the item, said the planning commission held a public hearing March 24 and recommended forwarding the preliminary plat for the board’s consideration. Multiple residents from County Road 21 spoke at the board meeting to contest the proposal, raising runoff, bluff setback and safety concerns.

Sarah Erickson read a letter on behalf of her family that criticized the application for missing details. "The initial preliminary plat did not include a water runoff plan nor several details on the roads," Erickson read. She and other residents asked the board why the preliminary plat did not show the top and toe of a bluff along a portion of the proposed 400 And Tenth Avenue and questioned whether a road through bluff setback area could be built to county subdivision standards.

Neighbor Joe Rodriguez told the board, "We are your constituents. We don't want this," and pressed engineers to show how basin sizing, filtration locations and sight distance would protect adjacent farms and structures. Mary Larson described her family’s century farm and warned of traffic and quality‑of‑life impacts from additional houses.

Kyle Scove, a project engineer with WHKS, said the applicant had prepared additional construction plans and a stormwater report after the April 1 meeting. Scove said the team revised an originally proposed infiltration basin to a filtration basin to comply with the Minnesota stormwater manual and that basin sizing is documented in a multi‑page stormwater report. "For all of those events, the runoff from this site is slightly less after development than it is today," Scove said, summarizing the modeling for the two‑, 10‑ and 100‑year storms.

Developer Brent Beck told the board the homeowners association would maintain local roads and said he planned to retain roughly 35–40 acres for enrollment in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). He said planning, zoning and the county highway engineer had reviewed the submittal and that the Mazeppa Township‑level A3 zoning permitted the proposal.

During discussion, commissioners noted the township and county zoning process that placed the parcels in the A3 agricultural/urban fringe district; one commissioner said township boards had considered public comment when designating areas and that the county must apply zoning ordinances consistently. Commissioner Springer moved to approve the preliminary plat; Commissioner Powers seconded. The motion carried on an affirmative voice vote.

What remains: final plat approval, any required road or drainage easements and final construction plans will return to planning commission and the board for review and recording as part of the final‑plat process.