Buying Land in Osakis: Septic, Wells, and Lot Rules

Buying a lot in Osakis comes down to one question: is it inside the city, on municipal water and sewer, or in the township, where you drill a well and install a septic system? The 17 Longview Circle lots I list in Osakis Township, priced from $35,000 to $160,000 as of September 22, 2026, are township lots under county rules.

I'm Janet Matchinsky; Home Match Realty lists the Longview Circle lots currently for sale in Osakis, and these are the questions a lot buyer needs answered before making an offer. This post explains the rules that decide what you can build on an Osakis lot and what it will cost to get water in and sewage out. If you are ready to look at lots, start with the Longview Circle page.

City lot or township lot: the first thing to find out

Osakis is a city of 1,771 people (2020 census) that sits mostly in Douglas County with a small portion in Todd County (Wikipedia). The city runs its own water and wastewater systems, with 200,000 gallons of water storage and 540 gallons per minute of pumping capacity (City of Osakis Public Works).

Inside the city limits, the zoning ordinance requires new development to connect to municipal sewer and water when those lines are within 300 feet or the site is guided for urban development in the comprehensive plan. Where municipal sewer is not available, "all sewage facilities must be connected to approved septic tanks and disposal fields" (Osakis Zoning Ordinance, Chapter 32).

City lots are smaller and simpler. The R-1 Low Density Residential district requires a minimum lot of 10,000 square feet, 75 feet wide and 120 feet deep, with a 30-foot front setback, 10-foot side setbacks and a 20-foot rear setback. Impervious surface is capped at 30 percent of the lot, and homes top out at 2.5 stories or 35 feet (Osakis Zoning Ordinance, Chapter 18). Building permits and zoning questions go through the city's Planning and Zoning office at 320-859-1201 (Building Permits and Zoning).

Township lots, including Longview Circle, fall under Douglas County's zoning ordinance and its Land and Resource Management department at 305 8th Ave W in Alexandria, 320-762-3863 (Douglas County Land and Resource Management). That is where the septic and shoreland rules below come from.

Longview Circle as the example

Longview Circle SE is a platted lot development in Osakis Township, Douglas County, on the Osakis side of Smith Lake; Home Match Realty lists the Longview Circle lots currently for sale. As of September 22, 2026 (Home Match Realty listings on NorthstarMLS):

• Block 2: eleven lots from $35,000 to $45,000 at 0.94 to 1.58 acres. Lot 8 is the largest at 1.58 acres, listed at $38,000 (#7112053). The MLS remarks describe these inner-circle lots as fairly level, with trees planted along shared lot lines.
• Block 1: six lots from $120,000 to $160,000 at 1.08 to 1.86 acres, the larger lots at the top of the price range. Lot 12 at 1.42 acres is listed at $160,000 (#7102142).
• Sold in 2026: 9 Longview lots closed in 2026. The ones Home Match Realty listed closed at $30,000 to $79,000, the highest being Block 1 Lot 1 at 3.14 acres for $79,000; the Longview Circle page lists them by block and lot.

Per my listing remarks, the road will be maintained by the township, public lake access is nearby, and the development includes a mix of lake-view lots, lots that back up to a public fishing and wildlife area, and a few lakeside lots (listing remarks as republished by Coldwell Banker).

The practical point: because these are platted lots of roughly an acre in the township, each home gets its own well and septic system. The cost of those two systems, and the county permits behind them, is the difference between the lot price and the real cost of a building site. I will tell you which lots have had soil work done when you call.

Septic: the rule that decides where the house goes

A private septic system in Douglas County has to satisfy both the state septic code and the county ordinance. Start with the state setbacks from Minnesota Rules 7080.2150 (Minnesota Rules 7080.2150):

The setbacks from wells and from lakes are set by other chapters, covered below. The rule that most often changes a house plan is vertical separation: the state requires at least three feet of unsaturated soil between the bottom of the drainfield and the seasonally saturated soil or bedrock, and the whole treatment zone must sit within seven feet of final grade. On a wet or heavy-clay lot, that three feet is why you end up with a mound system instead of a conventional trench, and the cost difference is significant. A soil boring before you close tells you which one you are buying.

Douglas County adds two rules that matter to a lot buyer (Douglas County Zoning Ordinance, PDF):

1. A septic compliance inspection is required upon the transfer of property ownership. When a sale closes in winter and the system cannot be evaluated, the county requires a winter agreement with escrowed funds, and the inspection must be completed and submitted by the following June 1. If the system fails, the escrow covers the fix. On a bare lot there is nothing to inspect yet, but the day you sell the finished house this rule applies to you as the seller.
2. Rural lot minimums for land you split yourself. In the county's Agricultural and Rural Residential districts, a new lot created by plat or by conveyance needs at least 2.5 acres, 200 feet of width and 300 feet of depth. That is the rule you run into when you try to carve a building site off a farm. It is also the reason a platted, county-approved lot like Longview Circle is simpler to buy: the lot lines, road and approvals already exist.

The county keeps a list of licensed septic designers and installers (2026 Septic Professionals List, PDF). Hire one to do the soil evaluation before your contingency period ends.

State law also requires a seller to disclose, before the purchase agreement is signed, whether sewage goes to a permitted facility or to a private system, along with a map of the system and any prior inspection report (Minn. Stat. 115.55, subd. 6). A seller who hides a known system is liable for the cost of bringing it into compliance plus attorney fees, and the buyer has two years from closing to bring that claim.

Wells: the setbacks that pin down the house and the septic together

A new well in Minnesota is governed by the Department of Health's well code, and its isolation distances are what force the site plan to work as a whole (Minnesota Rules 4725.4450):

• 50 feet from a septic tank.
• 50 feet from a drainfield.
• 20 feet from a sewer line serving a single house, if it is properly constructed.
• 35 feet from the ordinary high water level of a lake, pond or stream.

Put the well 50 feet from the septic, the septic 20 feet from the house and 10 feet from the lot line, the house 30 feet or more from the road, and you have used a surprising amount of a one-acre lot. This is why I hand buyers a sketch before they pick a house plan.

Costs and paperwork to plan for:

• A new water-supply well requires a construction notification to the Minnesota Department of Health with a $325 fee, effective July 1, 2025 (MDH well fee schedule). The driller usually files it and adds it to the bill.
• When you later sell, Minnesota requires a well disclosure in the purchase agreement and a well disclosure certificate filed with the county recorder at closing, with a $54 fee (Minn. Stat. 103I.235).
• Once the well is in, MDH recommends testing for coliform bacteria every year, nitrate every other year, arsenic and lead at least once, and manganese before a baby drinks the water (MDH well water quality).

Shoreland rules if the lot touches or sits near water

Any lot within 1,000 feet of the ordinary high water level of a DNR-classified lake is in the shoreland area, and Douglas County applies extra rules there (Douglas County Shoreland). Structure setbacks from the water depend on the lake's class:

Half of that setback distance, measured up from the water, is the shore impact zone, where no structures are allowed and even stairways need a Shoreline Alteration Permit. Vegetation clearing at the shore is limited to 25 percent or 25 feet of frontage, again by permit. These county numbers match the state shoreland standards in Minnesota Rules 6120.3300, which also set unsewered lot minimums of 20,000 square feet on a General Development lake up to 80,000 square feet on a Natural Environment lake (Minnesota Rules 6120.3300).

For reference, the City of Osakis classifies Lake Osakis as a General Development lake, DNR number 77-215 (Osakis Shoreland Management Ordinance). Lake Osakis covers 6,389 acres with a maximum depth of 73 feet, 26.8 miles of shoreline and 4 DNR-listed public accesses (Minnesota DNR LakeFinder). If a lake lot is the goal, the Lake Osakis page and my Lake Finder list what is on the water now. Smith Lake, where Longview Circle sits, is smaller and quieter; ask me for its DNR classification for the specific lot you are considering, because it sets the setback for the lakeside lots.

My checklist before you close on an Osakis lot

1. Confirm city or township, and whether municipal sewer is within 300 feet.
2. Order a soil evaluation from a licensed septic designer and get a system type and rough cost in writing.
3. Sketch the well, septic, house and driveway with the setbacks above, and make sure a house you actually want fits.
4. Check the shoreland classification and setback if water is within 1,000 feet.
5. Get a quote from a licensed well driller and ask neighbors how deep their wells are.
6. Read the plat and any covenants or association terms for the development.
7. Confirm road maintenance responsibility in writing.

I go deeper on building costs and timelines in New construction in West Central Minnesota, and if you own land you are thinking of selling, Selling land and lots covers the other side.

Talk to Janet

Call or text me at (320) 219-2488 and tell me whether you want to be on city services or on your own well and septic, and I will show you the Osakis lots that fit, including which Longview Circle lots have soil work done. The Osakis homes page has everything I have listed in town and in the township.