## Facts

- A landowner purchased a large tract in Maury County, Tennessee, with a farmhouse accessed from a public road by a recorded 60-foot-wide easement that was only partially passable.
- To increase sale value, the landowner improved the easement by clearing brush, grading and re-cherting the lane, and adding drainage ditches.
- The landowner also installed a six-inch water pipe along the easement and arranged for electric poles and a power line near the easement.
- The landowner divided part of the tract into 18 parcels; many parcels fronted on the improved lane, which he labeled “Beasley Lane,” and advertised a public auction describing the tracts as building sites with utility availability.
- The county’s development director concluded the project was a regulated subdivision because it appeared to involve road and utility work, and she advised that planning commission approval was required before sale.
- The landowner sought declaratory and injunctive relief, asserting the division was not a “subdivision” under Tenn. Code Ann. § 13-3-401(4)(B) because it did not “require” new street or utility construction.
- The trial court declared the project was not a subdivision under the statute and enjoined the planning commission from interfering with the sale; the county officials appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether dividing the tract into multiple parcels constituted a “subdivision” under Tenn. Code Ann. § 13-3-401(4)(B) because it “requires new street or utility construction.”
2. Whether voluntary improvements to an existing easement and optional utility work trigger planning-commission jurisdiction and approval requirements under the statutory definition.

## Decision

- The appellate court affirmed the declaratory judgment and injunction.
- The project was not a statutory “subdivision” because it did not “require” new street or utility construction within the meaning of Tenn. Code Ann. § 13-3-401(4)(B).
- The planning commission lacked authority to block or condition the proposed auction on subdivision approval.

## Legal Principles

- Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 13-3-401(4)(B), a land division is a “subdivision” only when it legally requires new street or utility construction as a condition of lawful development or sale.
- “Requires” is construed in a regulatory sense (mandated by law or applicable regulations), not in an economic or practical sense (usefulness or marketability).
- Improvements to an existing access easement, without creating a new street, do not constitute “new street construction” for purposes of the subdivision definition.
- Optional installation or arrangement of utility facilities undertaken to enhance value, absent a legal mandate, does not trigger subdivision regulation.

## Conclusion

Because the access route already existed as an easement and the road and utility work were voluntary rather than legally compelled, the land division did not meet the statutory definition of a subdivision, and the county planning authorities could not interfere with the planned sale.


Loftin v. Langsdon, 813 S.W.2d 475 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1991)