The city of Cottage Grove made changes to its Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (TCO) policy following input from Housing First Minnesota and local builders, including concerns over seasonal deadlines and a controversial $8,000 fee.

City officials are now adjusting key components of the TCO process. TCOs issued between July 1 and October 1 will expire October 15, while those issued between October 2 and June 30 will expire July 15. The city will evaluate which months make practical sense for as-built survey submission and create a standardized review timeline for staff to support builder scheduling needs. Finally, the city is reassessing the fee to ensure it reflects only the cost of staff time needed for processing, rather than acting as a revenue-generating measure. 

These adjustments come in response to concerns raised by Housing First Minnesota and its members in a formal letter to the city earlier this year. The group, along with local builders, argued that the original proposal, particularly the $8,000 non-refundable fee tied to seasonal TCOs, lacked statutory authority and exceeded typical permit and inspection costs in Cottage Grove.

Housing First Minnesota’s letter followed a meeting with city staff and building industry representatives, where the fee structure and its implications were discussed. The organization requested clarification from the city on several key points, including the legal authority for implementing the fee, the methodology used to set the fee and the relationship between the fee and existing city-held escrows for project completion.

The organization also called for further dialogue on how municipal policies could better align with efforts to ease the state’s housing affordability crisis.