Land Clearing in Clarksville, TN

Land clearing for a city that keeps growing

Clarksville is Tennessee's fifth-largest city. The Census Bureau's latest estimate puts it near 189,000 people, about 22,000 more than in 2020. Census permit counts show 1,366 new single-family homes authorized in the city in 2024, then 1,180 the next year. Unincorporated Montgomery County added 455 more that year.

Census survey figures show about 45 percent of the city's homes were built in 2000 or later. About two in three are detached single-family houses. Every new house needs a cleared, level pad and a way in. Site preparation for a new build covers both.

On an older lot, the job is often catch-up. A back corner went to brush, or a field sat uncut for a few seasons. NOAA's climate normals give Clarksville a growing season of about seven months, so brush comes back fast. Yard-scale brush falls under brush clearing, and a grown-up field may only need bush hogging.

Forestry mulching on Clarksville's cherty ground

Federal soil maps show Sengtown gravelly silt loam on about 30 percent of the city, the biggest share. It formed from limestone laced with chert, a hard, flinty rock. Chert gravel runs from the topsoil down into a red clay subsoil.

Flatter uplands carry Pembroke silt loam, a deep soil found on karst ground. The Clarksville soil series shares the city's name. Soil scientists first described it in Montgomery County in 1901.

That rock is one reason we look at a lot before we quote it. Mulching in place leaves the roots in the ground and a layer of mulch on top. On a slope, that cover helps hold the soil.

Where does the water go on a Clarksville lot?

Clarksville sits where the Red River meets the Cumberland, and Fort Defiance stands on the bluff above. The city's stormwater page says storm drains carry runoff directly into those two rivers' watersheds. The Cumberland at Clarksville set its record crest in May 2010.

FEMA flood maps put about 9 percent of the city in the 100-year floodplain. Creek bottoms hold Arrington and Lindell silt loams, and the soil survey marks both as occasionally flooded. NOAA's normals put Clarksville's rain at about 53 inches a year, with spring the wettest season. Fall is the driest season, and it usually brings the firmest ground for machine work.

Under the uplands, the limestone holds caves and sinkholes. Dunbar Cave State Park sits inside the city limits. The city's stormwater ordinance makes it unlawful to send sediment into a sinkhole or a stream.

If your lot has a sinkhole or a creek, tell us when you call. It changes how we plan the clearing.

Who answers permit questions in Clarksville?

Inside city limits, which take in New Providence and St. Bethlehem, the Building and Codes Department issues building permits. The Clarksville Street Department runs stormwater and issues grading permits for land disturbing work. Its ordinance exempts some small jobs, such as grading or fill that disturbs 100 cubic yards of soil or less. The Street Department has the final word.

A building permit for land-disturbing work also needs the city's erosion control form for small lots. A new entrance onto a city street needs an access permit from the Street Department first. Ask about it before a gravel driveway cut-in.

Outside city limits, Montgomery County asks for a land disturbance permit at one acre or more. It can also require one on smaller lots with karst features, streams, steep slopes or floodplain. On a county road, the county Highway Department sets the culvert for a new entrance.

State rules add one more layer. A building site that clears or grades an acre or more needs stormwater coverage from TDEC, the state environment department. Clearing land for farming is exempt from that, the county's rules note. We point you to the right office before work starts.