Survey came back different from plat

[Michael Hooper]

So I recently purchased a property, in the due diligence I pulled the plat from the register of deeds. The plat confirmed that the property was 160.66" by 50", for a little over 8000 sq ft for the lot. It is zone RS-8 in Murfreesboro TN, which has a minimum sq ft of 8000 sq ft, so it fall right it. I started the process of subdividing the lot into two RS-4s, which are minimum 4000 sq ft. The planning commission said I needed to do a survey. Well.... the survey came back that the lot was actually 159.1" by 50", which will not divide into two 4000 sq ft lots. The planning commission basically said "sorry". Any ideas of what I can do? The current property has a 1200sq ft house on it, but it is on half of the property, so I already checked to make sure I could divide it and meet all the setbacks, and it does. It just now won't meet the minimum size if I divide.

[JD Martin]

Try to get a zoning variance on either the house or the potential lot. Or ask your surveyor to double-check their survey starting points, because if you aren't dead set from the legal description you can be off inches.