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Otter Tail County denies Arvig plat, tables contentious Mud Lake cannabis CUP and clears other planning items
Summary
The Otter Tail County Board on Dec. 16 denied the Arvig Acres preliminary plat, agreed to table an out‑of‑deadline clarification on a cannabis manufacturing/retail CUP at Mud Lake until Jan. 13 for review, and approved several other planning commission recommendations including North Devil’s Lake road and plat approvals.
The Otter Tail County Board of Commissioners on Dec. 16 followed planning commission recommendations on several land‑use applications, denying one subdivision, tabling another contested conditional‑use permit and approving multiple permits and plats.
LeClaire, the county’s land and resource director, told the board the Arch d Designs conditional‑use permit request — to add manufacturing and small craft retail cannabis at a cultivation site on a natural‑environment lake — drew nearly 90 minutes of public comment at the planning commission and was recommended for denial. "The motion passed, and the conditional use permit application was denied," LeClaire read from the planning commission record. The applicant submitted a 12‑page clarification after the commission’s deadline; the board accepted the document for the record only and voted to table the county decision to Jan. 13, 2026 at 10:30 a.m. so members could read the material and determine whether it narrows the application enough to reopen public comment.
On a separate subdivision, the board denied the preliminary plat called Arvig Acres first edition. LeClaire summarized planning and township objections focused on access: adjacent property owners would be deprived of a full 66‑foot right‑of‑way, which the county and township said could limit the neighbor’s ability to plat in the future. The board agreed with the planning commission that denial was in the public interest.
The board approved the planning commission’s recommendation to permit earth‑moving work (a township road) for the North Devil’s Lake addition, then approved the related preliminary plat for 19 riparian lots; abstentions on one or more votes were recorded in the minutes. The county also approved a modification to an existing CUP for Koller Strom Resort Owners Association (combining units to reduce residential units from 13 to 12) and a conditional use permit for Crooked Lake Vineyard Trust to convert a guest house into a tasting room, with the condition that signage be non‑lit.
Planning‑board staffing and appointments were handled in the same session: the board reappointed several planning‑related members, recognized retiring planning commissioner David Wass for years of service, and appointed Van Steenburg (a retired limnologist) to a planning commission seat.
What’s next: the Arch d Designs matter will return to the county board on Jan. 13, 2026 at 10:30 a.m. for the board to decide whether the applicant’s late submission changes the scope of the original request and whether additional public comment is required.
