Responsibilities

The Brown County Planning and Zoning Department is responsible for preparing, updating and administering the County’s Land Development Regulations to promote orderly growth and development while protecting the natural environment, and public health and safety. Planning staff provides services to residents, engineers and developers by assisting, reviewing and processing proposed projects within the County jurisdiction. It administers the county’s Zoning & Development and Subdivision regulations as well as the Floodplain Development and reviews applications for adherence to the Zoning Ordinance and Comprehensive Plan. It also supports the Brown County Planning Commission/Board of Adjustment. The staff reviews and processes building permits, subdivision applications, special exception/conditional use permits, floodplain development permits, county land use and investigates zoning, nuisance complaints. They are also responsible for administering and maintaining the E-911 Addressing/MSAG (Master Street Addressing Guide for Emergency Response).

The Planning & Zoning Office is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 PM (excluding holidays and special circumstances).

The Planning/Zoning Commission meets on the 3rd Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. for:

• Conditional Use Petitions,
• Variance Petitions,
• Rezoning of Parcels,
• Subdivision Plats,
• Vacation of existing Plats,
• Amending of Ordinances,
• Amending Comprehensive Plan

All monthly agenda items for the Brown County Planning/Zoning Commission meetings that require individual "publishing in a newspaper" are currently being published in the "Groton Independent" and the "Aberdeen Insider" newspapers. The Board of County Commissioners chose this newspaper as the official publishing paper in January 2024 (SDCL 7-18-3 & 11-2-18).  

Please note that special items require earlier submittals due to publishing requirements.