The Greene County Regional Planning Commission tabled action on addressing changes made by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation in its plat requirements during its meeting Tuesday, and is working to get to the bottom of inconsistencies in TDEC enforcement of state requirements.
The Planning Commission was presented an overview of the changes during its meeting in April after TDEC notified the County Planning Office on March 4.
The Division of Groundwater Protection will now be known as the Division of Water Resources, and the Planning Commission did take action Tuesday to change the name in all official documents.
As a result, a required six by six certificate block on survey plats will be retitled to “TDEC/Division of Water Resources.”
However, other changes have yet to be made as officials in Nashville and Knoxville continue to delay in sending county planning officials information on how to address the expected changes. As a result, plats remained delayed due to TDEC officials not approving them.
One expected change would be that prior to TDEC signing and approving a survey plat, a surveyor must have signed the “Surveyor Certificate of Accuracy block,” including their signature through their “Registered Surveyor” stamp.
TDEC/Division of Water Resources is also expected to require that the soil mapping of a property match the current survey plat exactly. If a soil map was previously completed using an older or preliminary plat, the property owner or developer must request that the soil scientist remap or transfer the soil evaluation onto the updated survey plat before the submittal will be accepted. Any soil evaluations that do not reflect the finalized survey boundaries may result in delays until corrected documentation is provided, according to expected guidelines set by TDEC.
An amendment to the Greene County Subdivision Regulations with the changes is expected to be presented at the May meeting of the Planning Commission for consideration due to the delays by state officials.
Greene County Planning Coordinator Amy Tweed reiterated during Tuesday’s meeting that the changes are from the state level, and are not coming from the county. Changes will have to be made to follow the state requirements or TDEC will no longer sign off on survey plats.
Inconsistencies In State Requirements
In a letter written to the Planning Commission members in early April, Tweed noted that she had discovered that the unpredictable nature of TDEC requirements stems from inconsistent enforcement from the state agency’s assigned specialists.
“In the past two years, surveyors have indicated that the requirements for TDEC review of Greene County plats differ from those in other Northeast Tennessee counties. Staff have determined that this appears to be an issue of enforcement at the county level. Each county is assigned a TDEC Environmental Specialist, and individual Specialists are interpreting and applying requirements differently within their respective counties. As a result, the County is not necessarily imposing additional requirements, but rather working to comply with those being enforced by TDEC on a county-by-county basis,” Tweed said in the letter.
In an effort to address the inconsistencies, Tweed noted that she had contacted several state officials to coordinate a meeting to gain clarification on TDEC requirements at the state level and “to better understand how and why these requirements are being applied differently across counties.”
In the letter, Tweed noted that she anticipated that a broader discussion will be held with planners and TDEC representatives from surrounding Northeast Tennessee counties.
“The goal of these efforts is to promote consistency i n both regulatory requirements and enforcement practices across all Northeast Tennessee counties with subdivision regulations, ensuring a more uniform and predictable review process for surveyors, developers, and local governments,” Tweed said.
