We purchased 20 acres of unplatted land. We want to subdivide into two 10 acre parcels and sell 10 acres. The county requires we first must upgrade our private roads to county highway standards to the point where they touch the county road. This would be cost prohibitive, approx. $1 million. Upon researching the property I found that it has historically always been two 10 acres parcels since its purchase from the Dept. of Forestry and up until the deed prior to ours where the title company recorded it as a 20 acre parcel. The previous owners did not request this nor did they want this. I have a signed and notarized letter from them stating such. The problem is the county still refuses to acknowledge that it is indeed two 10 acre parcels even with historical deeds and no official recording of a merge of the two properties. They insist we must go through with a minor subdivision process to get it back to the correct description and upgrade the roads. The title company says they get their property descriptions from the county and the county says they record the descriptions from the title company. What can I do now?

You should speak to an attorney in the area who specializes in real estate and land use. As part of the subdivision process you may be able to get a variance from the requirement to upgrade the roads on a hardship basis.

Thank you Lisa. There is a clause that states we can pay $3700 for each newly created parcel in lieu of upgrading the roads but the county says this does not apply to us, although their reasoning is unclear. We have contacted a local attorney who has met with the county attorney who is supposed to meet with the planning director. Waiting to hear from them. Hoping someone has more options to offer us.

Tough situation. Maybe your attorney can get somewhere with them. Good luck!