Warren County’s subdivision ordinance, enacted amid opposition from landowners and developers in 2004, could soon see its first set of revisions as the trend of building larger houses continues.

Developers have criticized the ordinance because it requires prefiling of plans and includes deadlines for continuing their developments from one phase to another.

Plans must show how drainage and sewer arrangements will be laid out, as well as sizes and land elevations for all drainage structures.

Those requirements, plus zoning stipulations, have long been in place for municipal developments, but are new to suburban projects.

Conflict has come in the past two weeks with the developer and others involved in The Trace subdivision, a development of about a dozen multistory houses off Fisher Ferry Road less than a mile past city limits.

Construction was halted on the development’s second phase following a July 21 letter from County Engineer John McKee, an order enforced in person Tuesday by the county’s newly hired permitting inspector Reed Birdsong and District 4 Supervisor Carl Flanders.

The letter instructs Carpenter Engineering Inc. to &#8220cease and desist” its work until in compliance with the ordinance.

Developer David Brewer said the subdivision’s second phase includes resumption of work continuing Olde Trace Drive, the main road in and out of the site. It tracks around the side of a steep hill and dead-ends at its peak. Precise elevations can’t be submitted to the county until at least some earth-moving is done, he said.

&#8220I can’t inspect anything until we get a realistic elevation reading,” Brewer said, adding that chasms can develop in dirt being compacted and moved. &#8220If we don’t keep moving dirt, I can’t set the roadbed.”

Brewer was joined by the project’s surveyor, Kimble Slaton of CTSI, the firm surveying the development, Bobby Carpenter of Carpenter Engineering and Jackson-based geotechnical engineer Gene Wardlaw, involved in dirt work, in a meeting with Flanders at the offices of ABMB Engineers Inc., the county’s engineering firm.

Though Carpenter brought a set of construction plans, which was accepted Wednesday, Brewer and Slaton still asked for the word &#8220construction” be redefined in the ordinance. Specifically, the group asked to revise it in a way that would allow developers to continue doing preliminary site grading to find a true elevation for storm drainage before handing in construction plans.

&#8220Shaping dirt is not construction,” Slaton said.

The group also suggested the Board of Supervisors hold pubic hearings for the specific purpose of amending the ordinance, much like the board does for property tax roll objections and setting its operating budget.

Flanders said he would take the issue before the rest of the board at a future informal meeting, most likely next week after the board finishes analyzing budget requests.

County Engineer John McKee, out of town and absent for the discussion, said when reached late Wednesday that the goal in mind behind stopping all construction, including dirt moving, before construction plans are handed in is to ensure the integrity of a road that the county will eventually maintain.

&#8220If the county is accepting roadways, we want to be there to make sure it’s installed properly,” McKee said, using as an example the section in the ordinance that addresses how thick the subgrade materials beneath the road are compacted.

The Trace’s second phase will consist of adding at least 15 houses. The homes will be between 2,200 and 3,200 square feet and priced between $230,000 and $330,000, Brewer said.

The 30-page Warren County subdivision ordinance directed developers to build new roads and install drainage that will meet minimal standards. They were designed to cure problems with developers cutting financial corners in building infrastructure and not considering such factors as runoff.

It asks builders to hand in preliminary plats showing a broad definition of the area being developed, including names, widths and distances between roads. After that, a construction plan must be done, showing the kind of drainage and elevation.

Since then, some instances have occurred where housing has begun without the developer getting a permit. Some of them were later found to have violated the subdivision ordinance in some way, McKee has said.

At McKee’s behest, the county hired Birdsong to check on developments on-site to check for compliance.

Flanders indicated Wednesday that the ordinance was always ripe for amending and this was perhaps the best time to do it.

&#8220This was always meant to be a living, evolving document,” he said.