Around Columbia, the City Limits Line Matters More Than the County's Building Pause
October 15, 2026
October 15, 2026
On paper, Maury County's pause on major subdivisions was the big growth story of the past year. It was approved last December and scheduled to end this fall. In practice, it covered a small share of the building happening around Columbia. Land inside a city's limits was exempt. When commissioners voted, Columbia alone had 10,442 housing units in its permitting pipeline or under construction. The county had seen 153 subdivision units built in unincorporated areas over the previous three years.
That gap shapes the decision for anyone comparing a newer home inside Columbia with a few acres outside it. The pause is ending and the county's new plan isn't finished. The pause was never the main thing deciding what gets built. The jurisdiction line was, and the county's draft plan suggests it will keep doing that job.
Say you're under contract on a tract in unincorporated Maury County, or about to be, and you have a split or small subdivision in mind. Three things are unsettled at once.
First, the end date of the pause is unclear. The Main Street Maury report on the December vote said it would expire October 1, 2026. A September 8 report from Front Porch Radio also said October 1. The July 27, 2026 Maury County Regional Planning Commission minutes record a public comment describing the pause as "scheduled to expire at the end of October 2026."
Second, nobody has publicly confirmed what happened next. A letter dated September 16 and posted to the county's plan website proposed a 90-day extension through December 30, 2026. The September 21 County Commission meeting record lists no extension among its resolutions. We found no public record as of early October that settles whether the pause lapsed or was extended.
Third, the replacement plan isn't done. The September 24 advisory committee packet lists the future land use map and fiscal analysis as "in process." It shows adoption proceedings only as a tentative "December?"
So a buyer planning to divide county land is working between two sets of rules. The old pause may or may not still apply, and the new framework is still a draft.
The pause was narrow by design. According to Main Street Maury, it restricted only "major subdivisions," meaning five or more lots where any lot is under five acres. It paused construction only, so developers could still apply and move through permitting. It applied only to land under Maury County zoning, not municipal or annexed territory.
What's Up Columbia reported that applications for subdivisions of five lots or fewer could still be submitted. About 1,000 existing buildable county lots were protected under vested rights. At the December meeting, Commissioner Kenny Morrow put it plainly: "If they want to build individual houses here and there, no problem, go ahead."
For someone buying a single homesite on existing county land, the pause probably changed very little. Its target was small-lot tract subdivisions on county-zoned land, and before the pause, few of those were being built compared with what was rising inside Columbia.
The split between city and county growth comes down to annexation. During the December debate, Commissioner Chad Brothers and Mayor Sheila Butt said counties have no say in annexations under state law. Butt added that "a person has to ask to [have their property] annexed."
Here's what that means in practice. Land next to Columbia can come into the city, pick up city zoning and utilities, and develop on the city's terms. County rules no longer apply to it. Brothers cited 10,442 units from the City of Columbia's development map as of December 2025, and Main Street Maury reported this breakdown alongside that total. The three categories as published add up to 10,271, so they don't fully account for the headline figure.
| Housing type in Columbia's pipeline, Dec. 2025, as reported | Units |
|---|---|
| Single-family | 5,815 |
| Townhouses | 2,012 |
| Multifamily | 2,444 |
The same article said hundreds more units were in process in Spring Hill. These are December 2025 figures and the pipeline has surely moved since then. The proportion is still the useful part. Nearly all new subdivision homes around Columbia were coming from inside a city. The county pause was set up to leave that untouched.
Even in December, one commissioner, Jerry Strahan, said he expected the pause to push developers further toward the cities. Whether or not the pause did that, the draft plan points the same way.
The plan, prepared by consulting firm McBride Dale Clarion, states its first goal clearly. Policy 1.1 says to "direct new growth toward municipalities, designated growth areas, and locations where adequate infrastructure and public services are available." Policy 1.3 calls for development "only when roads, water, emergency services, schools, and other infrastructure can adequately support additional growth."
The September 24 draft divides unincorporated Maury County into six categories: Agriculture and Conservation, Rural Residential, Rural Communities, Corridor Commercial, Employment, and Regional Interchange. The two that matter most for someone shopping for rural acreage near Columbia have specific recommended densities:
The packet also says these categories "provide guidance for future land use decisions, but do not change existing zoning or property rights." A future land use map shapes how the commission weighs a later rezoning or subdivision request. It doesn't rewrite a parcel's zoning the day it's adopted.
This is the question builders were asking a year ago. In December, Commissioner Kevin Markham said the county hadn't told local builders whether it would "settle on a one-acre… three-acre… or five-acre minimum." The current draft gives two answers, one acre and five acres, depending on which category a tract falls in. The map placing tracts into those categories was still being worked on as of September 24.
Before the plan was finished, the commission also took one clear vote on a large proposal. On June 15, 2026, the Maury County Commission voted 20–0 against rezoning roughly 1,300 acres off New Highway 7 for Crosswaters Reserve. That proposal included 1,313 homes, 150,000 square feet of commercial space, a 400-room hotel and a 36-hole golf course.
One vote doesn't predict the next one. Read alongside the draft plan's goals, though, it fits the same pattern. Large, dense residential projects on county land face a high bar, and the plan steers that kind of growth toward the cities.
These pieces lead to a practical conclusion for a buyer weighing Columbia against the countryside around it.
If you want a newer home on a smaller lot, Columbia's city pipeline is where most of that supply has been coming from, and the county's direction doesn't change that. If you want acreage in unincorporated Maury County, the draft plan suggests county land is more likely to stay in larger tracts than to fill in with small-lot subdivisions. A buyer who wants to divide land later should expect minimum lot sizes to matter a great deal, and those minimums depend on a map that isn't final yet.
The wider market gives buyers some room to check all of this before committing. Greater Nashville REALTORS reported that in September 2026 its nine-county region, which includes Maury County, had a single-family median of $510,000, 15,536 active listings, 5.7 months of inventory and an average of 57 days from list to contract. Those are regional figures, not Maury-only numbers, so they describe the wider Middle Tennessee market rather than Columbia's own pace. Still, a market with close to six months of supply usually leaves time to confirm a parcel's jurisdiction, zoning and vested status during due diligence.
These meetings are where the open questions are most likely to be answered:
The plan website says the final plan is to be adopted by the Regional Planning Commission after the County Commission endorses it.
Did the pause stop people from building a single house on county land? No. As reported, it covered major subdivisions of five or more lots with any lot under five acres. Commissioners said building individual homes could continue.
Does the draft plan rezone my property? The September 24 packet says the future land use categories "do not change existing zoning or property rights." They serve as guidance for future decisions. Maury County Building and Zoning can confirm a specific parcel's current zoning.
Did the pause apply inside Columbia's city limits? No. It applied only to land under Maury County zoning, not municipal or annexed territory.
Is the pause over? It was scheduled to end October 1, 2026, though one set of minutes refers to the end of October. A 90-day extension was proposed in September, and we haven't found a public record confirming either outcome. The county's Building and Zoning office can give the current answer.
If you're weighing a tract outside Columbia against a home inside the city, the first thing to settle is which side of the line the property sits on and what that means for how it can be used. First Realty Group has handled land, farm and acreage sales across southern Middle Tennessee since 1995. We're glad to help you sort through a specific parcel. Contact Us.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
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