TN Code § 43-14-219 (2021)
2021 Tennessee Code|Title 43 - Agriculture and Horticulture|Chapter 14 - Soil Conservation|Part 2 - Soil Conservation Districts|§ 43-14-219. Land-Use Regulations — Adoption — Amendment or Repeal — Provisions

  The supervisors of any district have the authority to formulate regulations governing the use of lands within the district, in the interest of conserving soil and soil resources and preventing and controlling soil erosion. The supervisors may conduct such public meetings and public hearings upon tentative regulations as may be necessary to assist them in this work. The supervisors shall not have authority to enact land-use regulations, until after they have caused due notice to be given of their intention to conduct a referendum for submission of the regulations to the owners of lands lying within the boundaries of the district, for their indication of approval or disapproval of the proposed regulations, and until after the supervisors have considered the result of the referendum. The proposed regulations shall be embodied in a proposed ordinance. Copies of the proposed ordinance shall be available for the inspection of all eligible voters during the period between publication of the notice and the date of the referendum. The notices of the referendum shall recite the contents of the proposed ordinance, or shall state where copies of the proposed ordinance may be examined. The supervisors shall supervise the referendum, shall prescribe appropriate regulations governing the conduct of the referendum, and shall publish the result of the referendum. All owners of lands within the district shall be eligible to vote in the referendum. Only landowners shall be eligible to vote. No informalities in the conduct of the referendum or in any matter relating thereto shall invalidate the referendum or the result of the referendum, if notice of the referendum has been given substantially as provided in this subsection (a) and the referendum has been fairly conducted.   The supervisors shall not have authority to enact a proposed ordinance, unless at least two thirds (2/3) of the votes, cast in the referendum, of the landowners have been cast for approval of the proposed ordinance. The approval of the proposed ordinance by two thirds (2/3) of the votes cast in the referendum shall not be deemed to require the supervisors to enact the proposed ordinance into law. Land-use regulations prescribed in ordinances adopted, pursuant to this section, by the supervisors of any district shall have the force and effect of law in the district and shall be binding and obligatory upon all owners and occupiers of lands within the district.   Any owner of land within the district may at any time file a petition with the supervisors asking that any or all of the land-use regulations prescribed in any ordinance adopted by the supervisors under this section shall be amended, supplemented or repealed. Land-use regulations prescribed in any ordinance adopted pursuant to this section shall not be amended, supplemented or repealed, except in accordance with the procedure prescribed in this section for adoption of land-use regulations. Referenda on adoption, amendment, supplementation or repeal of land-use regulations shall not be held more often than once in six (6) months.   The regulations to be adopted by the supervisors under this section may include:  Provisions requiring the carrying out of necessary engineering operations, including the construction of terraces, terrace outlets, check dams, dikes, ponds, ditches and other necessary structures;   Provisions requiring observance of particular methods of cultivation, including contour cultivating, contour furrowing, lister furrowing, sowing, planting, strip cropping, seeding and planting of lands to water-conserving and erosion-preventing plants, trees and grasses, forestation and reforestation;   Specifications of cropping programs and tillage practices to be observed;   Provisions requiring the retirement from cultivation of highly erosive areas or of areas on which erosion may not be adequately controlled if cultivation is carried on; and   Provisions for such other means, measures, operations and programs as may assist conservation of soil resources and prevent or control soil erosion in the district.     The regulations shall be uniform throughout the territory comprised within the district, except that the supervisors may classify the lands within the district with reference to such factors as soil type, degree of slope, degree of erosion threatened or existing, cropping and tillage practices in use, and other relevant factors, and may provide regulations varying with the type or class of land affected, but uniform as to all lands within each class or type.   Copies of land-use regulations adopted under this section shall be printed and made available to all owners and occupiers of lands lying within the district.