Splitting Land Around Pulaski? In Giles County, the Road Map Decides More Than the Acreage

"We don't have that authority." Former County Executive Graham Stowe wrote that this is the answer residents often get when they call the county about a development they don't like. In a November 2025 Pulaski Citizen column, he explained that Giles County voters have repeatedly rejected zoning. As a result, the county has no planning department, no inspectors, and very limited power to regulate development.

That leaves one main rulebook for dividing rural land in unincorporated Giles County: the county's subdivision standards. Most people who read them focus on the five-acre line. The clause that matters more for buyers and sellers is the one about roads.

The calls about White's Lane

At the Giles County Regional Planning Commission's August 4, 2026 meeting, Commissioner Terry Jones said he had been getting calls from homeowners on White's Lane. They had bought homes without an approved county road for access. At the same meeting, Commissioner Roger Reedy brought up "strip subdivisions." The county executive said the state treats those as something other than a subdivision, and he added that the county's "less than 5 acres" rule needed review.

The minutes don't explain how the White's Lane homes came to be built and sold that way. They do show where the risk sits for a rural buyer in this county. A house can be sold, deeded, and lived in long before anyone asks whether the road to it is public.

What the five-acre exemption actually requires

The current standards are posted on the planning commission's page and are marked "adopted as amended 27 June 2024." Section 3.b defines a subdivision as any split into two or more lots that requires new streets or utility construction, or any division of less than five acres for sale or building, whether now or later. Tennessee law uses the same wording and adds one clarification. Extending an individual service line to connect a single lot to existing utility mains doesn't count as utility construction.

Section 4.b is where the exemptions are. Here is how the adopted text sorts common situations:

The second row carries the most weight. Section 4.b.i says five-acre tracts are exempt only when no roads, "including easements of access," are built, "i.e., all tracts front on existing county roads as listed on the Giles County Official County Road Map." So a ten-acre split served by a shared gravel drive doesn't automatically qualify for the five-acre exemption. It qualifies only if every tract touches a road on that map.

Once a split counts as a subdivision, Section 4.c says the Register of Deeds can't record the plat until the planning commission has approved it in writing.

The map behind the exemption is getting a second look

At the September 1, 2026 meeting, commission member Tommy Price said he had gone to the Highway Department to ask for the county road map that the standards refer to. What he got was a brochure, and the minutes record that it "lacked specificity." The commission's follow-up was to ask the Road Superintendent for an updated road plan and to reference it in Section 4.b.

The exemption that lets five-acre splits skip review depends on a specific list of county roads, and the people who apply that test have asked for a clearer version of the list. Until it arrives, it's harder to confirm from the deed alone whether a road counts. The question is better asked before closing than after.

Other decisions in recent minutes show how much depends on case-by-case calls at the meeting itself:

• June 16, 2026. A Waco landowner brought a plat. Commission member Brian Marks concluded there was nothing for the commission to decide, because the original deed already listed two tracts and the owners were selling two tracts.
• August 4, 2026. A family split of 4.53 acres, with 1.76 acres kept for the parents' home and the rest going to their daughter, was found not to meet the commission's definition of a subdivision. Officials told the family to record everything with the Register of Deeds, write a legal description for each lot, and use a quit claim deed.
• September 1, 2026. Marks said the commission has not treated lots with driveways connecting to main roads as a subdivision. Commission member Kristen Pfeiffer said dividing acreage with no building planned isn't a subdivision under the commission's responsibilities.

None of these decisions took long. Each one depended on deed history, family relationships, and road access, which are details a buyer looking at a listing may never see.

Why a private road tends to stay private

A shared drive doesn't become a county road just because several houses use it. The Giles County Highway Department says it isn't responsible for building or maintaining roads on private residential or commercial property. Section 4.d of the standards bars public officials from improving a road, or laying water mains or other utilities in it, unless one of three things is true. The road already had public status, it matches a road on a commission-approved subdivision plat, or it matches a road on a road or street plat the commission has adopted.

The process for a new road to become public is demanding. Under Section 5.d.viii, the improvements must be finished to county specifications and pass a final inspection. Then the planning commission makes a recommendation, the developer signs a 12-month warranty contract, and the County Commission votes on acceptance. Final plat approval doesn't accept the road on its own. Before the preliminary plat is signed and work starts, Section 6.a also requires a surety bond or irrevocable letter of credit for 120% of the estimated project cost.

For a seller splitting off one homesite, that cost often decides the layout. A tract that fronts a mapped county road avoids all of it. A tract behind the field, reached by an easement, brings the whole process into play.

Septic adds a second requirement, and it depends on soil

Most rural lots around Pulaski use septic systems, which makes the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) the second agency involved. Giles County is served by TDEC's Columbia Environmental Field Office, (931) 380-3371. TDEC requires a septic permit before any dirt work or building construction, including the building pad.

For a land split, TDEC's subdivision evaluation requires a survey and a soils map from a Tennessee-licensed soils consultant. That applies when land is divided into two or more lots for development using septic, unless every resulting tract is at least five acres. Alternative septic systems require an extra-high-intensity soils map before TDEC will evaluate the property.

When a split does go through county review, Section 5.c.iv requires the preliminary plans for septic lots to show soil, rock, and groundwater test locations and results. They must also show groundwater depth, unless test pits are dry at five feet, and percolation data where individual systems are proposed. Section 7.c.iv requires written TDEC approval when no sewer connection is planned. At the September meeting, Marks walked through the cost and time these soil surveys can add.

Water is a separate question. At the June meeting, commission member Tommy Pope raised water availability for new building, and Marks added that volume and pressure count too. The chair said the commission relies on the utility districts for that. In practice, the utility district serving a tract has the answer, and the planning commission does not.

Rules in the middle of a rewrite

The commission has been revising the standards all year. RPC Chair Andy Edwards has described the goal as clarifying existing rules rather than creating new restrictions. At the June 16 public hearing, resident Leah Bailey commented on several draft provisions. These are proposals, not adopted rules:

1. A family-division exemption, with draft language barring lots created under it from being conveyed to non-family members. Bailey noted that other counties allow for hardship or foreclosure.
2. Clearer requirements for proving eligibility for an exemption.
3. A firm response deadline for agency sign-offs.
4. A say for developers in choosing outside consultants. Commissioner Terry Jones noted that a $500 limit had been placed on consultant services.

Commissioner Gayle Jones asked the commission to reconsider the five-year hold on family lots. The commission voted not to approve the draft as written and to keep working on it.

By September 1, the draft was still a working document. Land surveyor Court Pugh had submitted further suggestions, and County Executive Knox Vanderpool recommended sending it to the county attorney. Members also discussed a new Tennessee law that changes how local governments can require landowners to dedicate land along existing public rights-of-way. Membership is also changing. Six or seven seats may be filled after the 2026 election and expiring terms, officer elections were moved to October, and the next meeting was set for October 13, 2026.

Until something new is adopted, the June 2024 standards apply.

Questions to settle before you sign or split

• Does every tract front a road on the Official County Road Map? Ask the Giles County Highway Department, and get the answer in writing if you can.
• If access depends on an easement, is it recorded, and does the split still qualify for the five-acre exemption?
• Has the planning commission approved the plat if the split counts as a subdivision?
• Has a licensed soils consultant evaluated the site, and has TDEC's Columbia office issued or reviewed a septic permit?
• Has the serving utility district confirmed water volume and pressure for a new home?

FAQ

Does a family land split in Giles County need planning commission approval? Under the adopted 2024 text, there is no standalone family exemption. A proposed family exemption is part of the draft rewrite. In August 2026, the commission found that one small family transfer didn't need its approval, based on the specific facts.

Is every five-acre tract exempt? No. The exemption applies only when no new roads, access easements, or utilities are needed and every tract fronts a county road on the official map.

Will the county maintain a shared drive? The Highway Department says it doesn't maintain roads on private property. A new road becomes public only through the acceptance process in Section 5.d.viii.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. For a specific tract, check with the Regional Planning Commission, a licensed surveyor, and a real estate attorney.

If you're thinking about splitting off a homesite, buying a tract behind someone else's field, or settling family land in Giles County, First Realty Group can help you check road access, easements, and septic and utility questions before they hold up a closing. Our team has bought and sold farms and acreage here since 1995. Contact us to talk it through.