Minnesota Plan Review, Certificate of Occupancy and the Met Council SAC Charge for a New Business
Minnesota Plan Review, Certificate of Occupancy and the Met Council SAC Charge for a New Business
Minnesota does not issue one license that lets you open a business. You collect a set of approvals from different agencies and cities, and the order you get them in decides whether you open on schedule. Three approvals catch new owners most often: plan review, the certificate of occupancy, and the Metropolitan Council Sewer Availability Charge (SAC). This guide explains what each one is, who requires it, and what to confirm before you sign a lease or order equipment.
This guide is informational content, not legal, tax, or building advice. Rules change, and the agency or city that issues your permit makes the final call. For a complex project, talk with a qualified attorney, a CPA, and a licensed design professional.
Minnesota Has No General Business License
The state issues no general statewide business license. Licenses and permits come from individual agencies, organized by occupation and activity. The central lookup is License Minnesota (mn.gov/elicense), where you can browse required licenses by topic, by agency, or through an A to Z index. The agencies you are most likely to deal with include DLI, MDH, MDA, the Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division, the Office of Cannabis Management, DCYF, MnDOT, DVS, and the professional licensing boards.
Two state steps are often mistaken for licenses, but neither is one. Filing with the Secretary of State (SOS) creates or registers your entity, and that is a filing. Registering with the Department of Revenue for a Minnesota Tax ID and a sales and use tax account is a tax registration, but you must complete it before making taxable sales. The local layer is separate again. Minneapolis and St. Paul each license by category, and neither issues a general business license. Minnesota has 87 counties, about 853 cities and about 1,780 townships, and zoning and local licenses come from whichever one has jurisdiction over your address. Your first research question is therefore which city, county or township your address falls in.
Plan Review: Approval Before You Open or Remodel
Plan review is a check, before work starts, that your layout, equipment and finishes meet the rules for what you plan to do. For food and alcohol businesses, plan review comes before you open and before any remodel. Minn. Stat. 157.16 requires plan review approval for MDH licenses. Minneapolis requires plan review for food and alcohol businesses, and that includes carts, kiosks and trucks. Mobile and small-footprint operators often assume they are exempt. In Minneapolis, they are not.
How to Handle It
- Confirm which agency reviews your plans. Ask MDH or your city which office handles your type of food or alcohol operation before you pay a designer.
- Submit complete plans. Include a floor plan, an equipment list and a finish schedule. Incomplete submissions slow the review.
- Answer the comments and get written approval. Do not start build-out on verbal approval.
- Ask what follows. Find out what gets inspected during construction and whether a change to an approved layout sends the plans back for another review.
Timing matters more than most owners expect. Do not sign a build-out contract, order custom equipment or commit to a layout until the reviewer has approved the plans or told you what must change. A layout that fails review after the walls are up is one of the more expensive problems covered in this guide.
Minnesota Certificate of Occupancy: What It Is and Who Issues It
A certificate of occupancy (CO) is the local document confirming that a building is approved for the use you intend. The city or county building department issues it, generally after the final inspections on the work. The CO is separate from plan review and from your licenses. You can hold every license and an approved plan and still be unable to open if the building has not been cleared for occupancy.
Some Minnesota rules name the CO directly. Minneapolis requires a certificate of occupancy for cannabis businesses, and the Office of Cannabis Management also requires one. If you are entering the cannabis market, get both requirements in writing before you sign anything.
A change of use can trigger a new CO even when the walls stay where they are. Moving from retail to food service, or from office space to a gathering space, may require a new occupancy review. Before you commit, ask the building department three questions:
- Is a CO required for my occupancy type at this address?
- Which inspections come before it is issued, and how long does scheduling them take?
- Do you issue a temporary CO if some finish work is still open?
Landlords and lenders often ask for the CO as well. Read your lease for any clause that ties the start of rent or the opening date to occupancy approval, and plan your timeline around the inspection schedule, not the date you hope to open.
The Met Council SAC Charge
The Metropolitan Council Sewer Availability Charge (SAC) is a one-time charge for wastewater capacity. It applies when a business first connects to the system, moves into a building, or changes use in a way that adds potential wastewater demand. The Met Council determines the number of SAC units from your plans or your use, then bills the city. The city usually passes the charge on to you and may add its own fees.
On the Met Council page read in October 2026, one SAC unit costs $2,485. Your total is the number of units multiplied by $2,485. As an illustration only, a determination of two units would come to $4,970 before any city fees. The unit count is the Met Council's determination, so get it in writing before you build a budget around a number.
Replacement use can change the answer. A business that replaces a similar use whose SAC was already paid may owe nothing. A restaurant that replaces another restaurant is the usual example, but whether a use counts as similar is decided by the Met Council, not by you. Ask the city for the sewer and SAC history on the address, and ask the Met Council how it treats your specific use.
The SAC charge described here applies within the Twin Cities metropolitan sewer district. Outside that district, cities set their own sewer connection charges. Do not assume the $2,485 figure applies to a business in a smaller city. Check with the city before you budget.
Put the Approvals in Order
Most of the delays owners report come from doing these steps out of sequence. The table below shows the usual order and who to confirm each item with.
| Step | What It Covers | Who Handles It | Confirm With |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entity filing | Articles of Organization for an LLC: $155 online or in person, $135 by mail. No publication is required for LLC or corporation formation. | Secretary of State | https://mblsportal.sos.mn.gov/Business/Search |
| Assumed name (DBA) | $50 online or in person, $30 by mail. The certificate must be published for two consecutive issues in a qualified legal newspaper in the county of the principal place of business. | Secretary of State, then a newspaper | https://www.sos.mn.gov/business-liens/business-forms-fees/assumed-namedba/ |
| Tax registration | Minnesota Tax ID and sales and use tax account, before any taxable sales | Department of Revenue | https://www.revenue.state.mn.us/ |
| Plan review | Food and alcohol operations, before opening or remodeling | MDH or the city | Your reviewing agency |
| Trade and activity licenses | Set by occupation and activity | DLI, MDH, MDA, Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division, Office of Cannabis Management, DCYF, MnDOT, DVS, professional boards | License Minnesota (mn.gov/elicense) |
| Zoning and local licenses | By category, set by the city, county or township | Local government | Your city, county or township |
| Certificate of occupancy | Before occupancy. Required for cannabis businesses in Minneapolis and by the Office of Cannabis Management | City or county building department | Building department |
| SAC charge | One-time, on first connection, move-in or change of use | Met Council, billed through the city | City and Met Council |
Common Mistakes
- Signing a lease or build-out contract before plan review is approved.
- Assuming a food cart, kiosk or truck skips plan review. In Minneapolis, it does not.
- Treating the CO as paperwork and setting an opening date before the inspections are scheduled.
- Budgeting the SAC at $2,485 without a unit count from the Met Council.
- Assuming a prior tenant's SAC carries over without confirming the address's history.
- Assuming a state license covers the city. Minneapolis and St. Paul each license by category, so check both the state agency and the local office.
When to Get Help
An attorney can advise on entity choice, leases, and whether a cannabis or alcohol license changes how you should structure the business. A CPA can advise on the tax registration and the tax obligations that apply to your entity type. A licensed design professional can prepare plans complete enough for a first review. The Minnesota Small Business Development Center Network, administered by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, is a useful first call before you spend money on any of these steps: https://mn.gov/deed/business/help/sbdc/
The figures in this guide were checked against official sources as of October 2026. Confirm current amounts and requirements on the agency page before you file or pay.