Two months into a major review of rural land-use rules, county commissioners agreed to postpone until autumn any specific talk about rural lot sizes or development rules.

Wednesday’s decision seems likely to postpone major rural policy decisions until after November’s election, which will decide who sits in two of the board’s three seats.

In the meantime, commissioners will recruit a group of rural residents to define the phrase “rural character.”

Planning Director Marty Snell told commissioners Wednesday that if that’s all the group has to do, its work could be finished in “half a dozen meetings.”

Then, in September or so, commissioners will use the group’s definition to start talking about what specific policies to enact, Commissioner Marc Boldt said.

Boldt is leading the county effort.

The following things might go up for debate, the county says:

• Minimum lot sizes.
• The location of new “urban reserve” areas outside each urban area, marking them for possible future urbanization.
• The number and size of rural centers such as Duluth or Fargher Lake, and the sorts of businesses that can be built there.
• Right-to-farm and right-to-log rules.

Gordon Euler, a county planner, said Wednesday that he wasn’t sure what sort of further public process the state’s Growth Management Act will require if commissioners decide to add many new lots to the rural area.

“We’re going to have to be careful of not running afoul of the GMA rules,” he said.

The county expects rural areas to add 19,000 new residents between 2004 and 2024, a 15 percent increase. But there are already more than enough lots to meet that target, Euler said.

Boldt, a politician for 14 years, faces re-election in the fall. Boldt’s only opponent so far is Martyn Butler of Hearthwood, a fellow Republican.

Boldt said he didn’t mind wading into a two-year process without being sure he’ll be around for the second year.

“Never has bothered me before,” Boldt said, with an exaggerated shrug. “So, shouldn’t now.”