Husband and wife developers who granted themselves an easement to land with no access to a public road were denied permission to build on the landlocked property Thursday evening by members of the Signal Mountain Board of Zoning Appeals.
Ironically, BZA member Doug Fuston said Gordon ‘Buddy” Hulgan and his wife, Jacquie, could have built a house on the undeveloped land had they not already built on half the lot that fronts James Boulevard.
But by building that house and then selling it, Mr.
Fuston continued, they were left with no access to James Boulevard for the landlocked portion of their property except the easement they had granted themselves across the other half of that lot --without permission of the planning commission, as required by the town’s zoning ordinance.
The Hulgans, who attended the meeting with their attorney, denied that their development plan for the property is in any way underhanded.
Mr. Hulgan said, although their undeveloped property includes five lots from a never-developed subdivision platted in 1912, he only wants to build one house on the land.
However, he responded when asked whether he has taken legal action to combine all those lots into one large one, he said he has not.
“We’re not recording anything until we find out what you’re going to do,” he told the board.
“We pay taxes on every one of those individual lots . . . If anybody else paid taxes on every lot, I think they’d want something out of it,” he noted.
Denying the building permit could land Signal Mountain in court, the Hulgan’s attorney warned the BZA. “If (this case went to) Chancery Court, (the judge) more likely than not would try to give these folks access to their (landlocked) property,” he told members.
Further, he argued, it is common for developers to grant themselves access easements. “They do it all the time,” he said.
“Do they do it all the time in Signal Mountain?” one BZA member asked.
“I don’t know,” the attorney answered.
“It’s against the law in Signal Mountain,” he was told, “and that’s what applies here.”
The Hulgans’ action was a clear violation of Signal Mountain ordinances, town attorney Phil Noblett said.
“You can’t grant yourself an (access) easement,” Mr. Noblett said. “It has to be approved by the planning commission.”
The Hulgans, who owned and operated Signal Mountain Construction before opening H&H last year, have developed numerous properties in and around the town over the years and are well known in the community.
According to the Tennessee secretary of state’s website, SMC’s license to do business expired in March.
In a March 30 appeal filed to Signal Mountain’s Board of Zoning Appeals on H&H’s behalf, Mrs. Hulgan – referring to the easement and the previously landlocked lots behind it as 1610 James Blvd. – said the easement was an attempt to solve problems created by a “(s)treet never opened, or abandoned, creating unopened right away (sic).”
The Hulgans’ land is located in a subdivision, christened Hutcheson Heights, which was recorded in 1912 – seven years before Signal Mountain became a town.
Although no streets or houses were ever build on the property, the original plat remains on county books, officials said.