Heard County commissioners approve estate-lot averaging amendment with attorney-drafted protections

The Heard County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on Jan. 25 to adopt a text amendment to the county’s estate lot averaging rules that will allow certain large tracts to be divided into multiple lots served by a shared access easement.

Applicant Mike Crane told the board he purchased 100 acres off Highway 27 and proposed dividing it into eight lots served by a single driveway; he played a video illustrating the concept and said residents would be required to maintain the easement. During the public hearing residents raised questions about infrastructure and services: resident Ryan Maddox spoke in favor, Andrew Betts asked about water supply, school-bus access and who would maintain the road, and Dottie Duncan said she thought the approach could work for Heard County.

County Attorney Jerry Ann Conner told the board a covenant on title could be recorded to require maintenance of the easement and said the first decision was whether the board wanted to permit the text amendment at all. Laurie Cook, director of the Heard County Water Authority, told commissioners that water lines can be damaged and that the Water Authority currently has no reliable way to track line locations; Conner said additional wording may be needed to protect utilities.

Commissioner Larry Hammond moved to include the changes the county attorney would add to the text amendment to address easement maintenance and utility protections; Commissioner Larry Hooks seconded the motion and the board voted unanimously to approve the amendment. Conner emphasized that the amendment is not “one size fits all” and that each project seeking to use the new provision will have to come back to the board for reclassification and any project‑specific conditions.

Next steps: the county attorney will draft the covenant and any additional protective language required by the amendment; individual projects that rely on the new text‑amending allowance must return to the commission for project‑level review and reclassification before development proceeds.