Polk County approves preliminary plat to add 208 gravesites at Kongsminger Cemetery

Polk County commissioners voted to approve a preliminary plat that would expand Kongsminger Cemetery in Esther Township, county planning staff said. The proposal covers a 2.5-acre tract (Parcel 18.000060.05) and would add 208 gravesites to an existing cemetery that staff said has been active since 1886.

County planning staff told the board the site is zoned agricultural and lies within the county’s 100-year floodplain overlay. Staff noted a ring dike and explained that unless the ring dike has Army Corps of Engineers certification and FEMA review, the property remains formally in the floodplain. Rich Sanders, the county highway engineer, raised no objections to the plat, and planning staff said they received no comments from neighboring landowners or other agencies at the public hearing.

Planning staff also cited Minnesota Statute 307.01, which requires public and private cemeteries to be platted; that statute framed the need for the planning review. The board moved to approve the preliminary plat; the planning staff said the final plat will come back to the board later for signatures after the applicant completes the required paperwork.

The action was procedural: approval of the preliminary plat establishes the layout and enables the applicant and the county to proceed toward final plat recording. Planning staff said the applicant will establish a cemetery association to manage caretaking duties and that the plat will be adjusted on record to clean up parcel boundaries.

The board did not make changes to the conditions staff described, and staff said the item will return for final signatures once the plat documents are prepared.