Land Clearing in Coopertown, TN

Land clearing in Coopertown on farm ground and acreage lots

Residents voted to make Coopertown a town in 1996, after a landfill tried to locate there. The zoning ordinance calls farming and forestry an important part of the local economy. The town's permit page lists tobacco barns and horse stables as farm buildings.

Rural Residential lots start at 40,000 square feet, a little under an acre. Census survey figures put the town at about 1,750 homes, and close to 9 in 10 are single-family houses. Most were built between 1990 and 2009. On a few acres, the wooded edge or the back field is often the part that got away.

A field that is still mostly grass and weeds takes bush hogging once or twice a year. Once saplings and thick brush take hold, the forestry mulcher head is the better tool. We look at the ground and tell you which one the job needs.

Forestry mulching on cherty Coopertown hillsides

NRCS soil maps put Sengtown gravelly silt loam on about 30 percent of the land in town. It formed from cherty limestone, and its top layer carries chips of chert. Gravelly or cherty soils cover close to half of Coopertown.

About a quarter of the town's land sits on slopes of 12 percent or steeper. On a cleared hillside, the mulch the head leaves stays on the ground as cover. On the flatter ridges, Dickson silt loam has a fragipan, a dense layer that water moves through slowly. Grading on that ground starts with where the water will go.

Sycamore Creek winds through town for several miles, with mapped flood zones along its banks. FEMA maps about 4 percent of the town in the 100-year floodplain. The town's floodplain rules cover filling and grading there. Ask the Building Commissioner before any fill goes near a creek.

What does Coopertown ask for before clearing or a new driveway?

Inside the town limits, permits go through the Building and Codes office at town hall on Burgess Gower Road. The zoning ordinance calls for a Land Disturbance/Grading Permit once disturbed ground adds up to 1 acre. Clearing and grading both count as land disturbance there. Call that office for the rules on your lot before a big job starts.

The town asks for a driveway permit before a new driveway goes in. A town site inspection sets the culvert size and placement. At a paved road, the town wants a paved apron at least 12 by 20 feet. That apron is a paving contractor's job, and we handle the gravel driveway cut-in behind it.

Because of the hills, the town says a drive steeper than 8 percent may need a licensed civil engineer's drawings. A new entrance onto Highway 49, a state route, needs a permit from the state transportation department. Tennessee 811 needs at least three working days of notice before grading or digging starts. Private lines, like a water line out to a barn, are the owner's to locate.

Building sites off Highway 49 and the back roads

The Census Bureau's latest estimate puts Coopertown near 4,840 people, up from 4,480 at the 2020 count. Census permit data show 64 new single-family homes authorized in the most recent full year, up from 24 the year before. Town zoning lets a single back lot reach the road through a 30-foot access easement. A wooded site at the end of an easement needs clearing and a drive before the builder starts.

Our site preparation work clears the footprint and rough grades a level pad. For a post-frame home or barndominium, the town wants an engineer's stamped design before it issues a permit. The foundation and any concrete work belong to the builder.