In 2018, a longtime Medina couple named Ellis and Nancy Olkon asked the city for something that sounds simple on paper: permission to split their 21-acre property on Willow Drive into two lots. Twenty-one acres is plenty of land. The problem was underneath it. When engineers mapped the soil, the site's hills and wetlands left only 1.5 contiguous acres suitable for a septic system on one proposed lot and 1.3 on the other. Medina's Rural Residential ordinance requires five. The city denied the split, the Olkons sued, and a Hennepin County district court sided with Medina, citing the U.S. Supreme Court's Murr v. Wisconsin decision on how much deference local governments get over land use. The city's attorney put it plainly at the council hearing: this was "a very substantial variance, 5 acres down to 1.5 and 1.3."

That case is worth knowing if you're shopping for acreage in Medina today, because it exposes a fact most listing sheets never mention. The number that determines what you can build on a Medina parcel isn't the acreage in the MLS description. It's the acreage of soil underneath it that can actually support a septic system.

The Number the Listing Doesn't Show You

Medina's zoning code, with its district provisions revised in May 2025 and its subdivision regulations updated again in February 2026, splits its rural land into a few distinct districts, and each one measures buildability the same unusual way. In the Rural Residential district, a lot must contain a minimum of five acres of contiguous soils suitable for a standard on-site sewage disposal system, not five acres of anything. Independent estimates put the minimum lot dimensions at roughly 300 feet wide by 200 feet deep. In the Agricultural Preservation district, the city's own comprehensive plan caps density at one lot per 40 acres for any parcel not served by municipal sewer, with correspondingly larger width and setback standards, often cited around 500 feet.

The distinction matters because wetlands, steep slopes, and high water tables don't count toward that soil total, no matter how many total acres surround them. A 21-acre parcel with a ravine running through it can fail the same test a tidy 6-acre parcel passes easily. This is exactly what tripped up the Olkons: plenty of land, not enough of the right kind of land in one contiguous stretch.

Here's how the two rural districts compare on paper:

Two five-acre listings priced identically can sit in the same district and still represent very different opportunities once a soil map is pulled. One might have a clean, contiguous building envelope. The other might need a variance request that Medina, per its own ordinance and its own court record, is not obligated to grant.

What This Means If You Plan to Split, Build, or Board Horses

If your plan involves more than a single home on a single parcel, the soil question gets sharper. Medina's subdivision code defines a platted subdivision as any lot under 5 acres, under 300 feet in width, or requiring a new street, which means a raw parcel marketed with "future lot split potential" is making a claim that has to survive the same soil analysis the Olkons ran into. A wetland delineation report and a soil-series map tied to the county soil survey are part of that review, not an afterthought.

For equestrian buyers, the code adds a second layer worth understanding before you write an offer. Medina regulates livestock through animal-density standards tied to grazable acreage rather than a flat number of horses per property, distinguishing between animal weight classes the way it distinguishes mature cattle over and under 1,000 pounds. The city also draws a firm line between a private riding stable, defined as an accessory use to a single-family home, and a commercial riding stable, where horses are boarded for a fee or lessons are offered for sale. Commercial stables are only permitted in the Rural Residential-Urban Reserve (RR-2) district and only under specific conditions layered on top of the standard RR rules. If your equestrian plans include boarding other people's horses or running lessons, confirming which side of that line a parcel sits on is a diligence step, not a formality.

Where the Soil Work Is Already Done

Not every acre in Medina requires this kind of forensic homework. Platted subdivisions like The Preserve of Medina, Wild Meadows, Deerhill Preserve, and Foxberry Farms already carry lots where soil suitability, wetland boundaries, and septic siting were resolved during the platting process, often years before a buyer ever sees the listing. The Preserve of Medina, for example, sits in east Medina within the Orono school district and offers estate lots running from just under 7 acres to just over 27, with the subdivision work already completed. That's a meaningfully different diligence conversation than a raw, unplatted parcel where the soil map hasn't been drawn yet.

This is also where Medina's broader zoning philosophy shows up. The city's comprehensive plan describes its permanent rural area policy as keeping strict soil requirements for septic sites while allowing flexibility for open-space design developments, specifically to avoid ever needing to extend municipal sewer into the rural core. That trade-off, tighter soil rules in exchange for staying off the sewer grid, is why Medina still reads as horse country on the edge of the Lake Minnetonka corridor rather than another platted suburb.

Market activity backs up the demand for that trade-off. Sale prices across Medina have climbed sharply over the past year, and homes here have been taking about a week longer to sell than the national average, consistent with a market where buyers are willing to wait for the right combination of acreage, soil, and setting rather than settle for the first large lot they find.

The Diligence List Before You Write an Offer

A buyer serious about acreage in Medina should be asking a short list of questions before falling in love with a parcel:

1. Has a soil-series map been pulled against the current Hennepin County Soil Survey, and does it show five contiguous suitable acres in the Rural Residential district, or the applicable threshold for AG?
2. Has a wetland delineation report been completed, and does it exclude those areas from the soil calculation the way city code requires?
3. If the listing mentions future subdivision potential, has that claim been tested against the city's platted-subdivision definition, not just assumed from total acreage?
4. If horses are part of the plan, is the intended use private (accessory to the home) or commercial (boarding or lessons for a fee), and does the parcel's district allow it?
5. Is the property served by a private well, and has well disclosure information been reviewed as required at transfer?

None of these questions show up on a portal listing page. All of them show up in a title search, a soil map, or a call to the city's planning department, and all of them can change what a given acreage number is actually worth.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does five acres in Medina always mean a buildable lot? Not automatically. The five acres has to be contiguous and soil-suitable for septic, which is a different measurement than the total acreage on the plat.

Can a large parcel fail this test even if it looks flat and dry? Yes. The Olkon case involved 21 total acres, well above the five-acre minimum, yet the contiguous suitable soil on either proposed half fell to 1.5 and 1.3 acres once wetlands and slope were factored in.

Is buying in an established subdivision safer than buying raw acreage? Generally, yes, for buyers who want to skip the soil-mapping process. Platted neighborhoods like The Preserve of Medina or Deerhill Preserve completed that review during development.

Acreage numbers tell you what a lot is priced on. Soil maps tell you what a lot can actually become. If you're weighing raw land against a platted lot in Medina, or trying to figure out whether a parcel that looks perfect on paper will hold up under a soil review, Holly Connaker and the Connaker Group can walk the site with you before you write an offer. Schedule a Private Consultation to start that conversation.