Wright County sees most new plat, parcel applications in 15 years

(FOX 9) - With housing prices throughout the Twin Cities remaining strong and new ones being built seemingly not keeping up with demand, some prospective homeowners have turned to a new solution – breaking ground in Wright County. 

According to the Wright County Recorder’s Office, the county had its busiest year in more than a decade in 2021.

Throughout the year Wright County – which includes the cities of Annandale, Albertville, Buffalo, Montrose and more – recorded 64 plats that represent 1,978 new parcels and lots. A plat of consolidation plan happens when a landowner takes over several adjacent parcels of land and consolidates them into a single parcel, oftentimes for future development. 

The new applications represent the most in both categories since 2006, and more than three times the number of new parcels than in 2020, according to the recorder’s officer. It’s also the ninth straight year of increases in the number of plats recorded. 

Most of the plats recorded were housing developments that are going to add thousands of county residents to an already-growing population, according to Wright County Recorder Tanya West.

"What the numbers tell us is that there is massive development going on with multiple lots for single-family homes," West said in a statement. "Not only has there been an increase in plats, but there are large developments that are being platted and parcels being created."

The platting process requires a surveyor’s office and then goes before a city planning board, or in the case of townships, the county planning commission. There is also involvement from the county attorney’s office for township plats. 

If the property abuts a highway, the county Highway Department becomes involved. All of this must take place before it gets an official recording from the Recorder’s Office.

"I think we’re just starting to come back from the foreclosure crisis," West said in a statement. "It bottomed out a decade ago and it has been a long climb to recover from that."