Could battery storage work on your Robertson County land?

Draw the part you would offer and the land you need to keep

A company may ask for a battery area within a larger tract. Before discussing the acreage alone, ask for a drawing that shows the proposed boundary, entrance, connection route, drainage work and temporary construction space. Mark the house, fields, livestock areas, gates and routes you want to keep using.

Compare that drawing with the deed, survey and any recorded plat. A fence line, tax-map outline or marked-up aerial image may help explain an idea, but ask your surveyor or property adviser to confirm the legal descriptions and existing rights. Identify any access the proposal would share with you or a neighboring owner.

Ask whether the company is proposing a lease of part of the tract, a separate sale, a new road or a change to an existing plat. Those are different arrangements. Have the team and the appropriate reviewing offices establish whether platting or another approval applies, including any available exemption. The county’s general subdivision checklist does not answer that question for every battery proposal.

Check the effect on the land that remains. Would you still be able to reach each area, use the same gates and move equipment without passing through the battery site? If a future layout change needs more land, decide how your written approval and any additional payment would work.

Reference: Robertson County: subdivision checklist, updated April 29, 2025 · Robertson County Clerk: Subdivisions Procedure and linked documents

Find out who reviews the property arrangement

The county’s April 2025 checklist begins by directing the developer to the commissioner for the precinct where the land is located. It also points to the County Clerk for the full subdivision policy and to the relevant offices for sewage, rural addressing and other requirements. Ask the project team to obtain the current policy and explain the parts that apply to its proposal.

The checklist discusses city extraterritorial jurisdiction, and the recording packet describes city and county steps for property in an applicable city review area. Have the team confirm the actual boundary and current authority for your tract. Do not decide this from a mailing address or assume the distances in an older checklist establish today’s jurisdiction.

Ask for a list of the decisions needed for both the land arrangement and the facility. Plat review is only one possible part of that work. The company still needs to establish the applicable battery safety, development, drainage, road and utility requirements for the design.

You can ask Sunland about the location before this work is complete. An initial inquiry should help identify questions to investigate; it is not a county submission or approval to enter the property.

Reference: Robertson County: subdivision checklist, updated April 29, 2025 · Robertson County: plat cover sheet, owner affidavit and recording instructions, undated · Robertson County: procedure for filing plats, undated

Separate a proposed plat, approval and recording

If a plat or replat is required, ask what stage it has reached. Has the surveyor prepared it? Have the reviewing offices requested changes? Has the relevant approval been obtained? Have the required signatures and accompanying records been gathered? Has the County Clerk recorded the final document?

Robertson’s posted cover sheet tracks the received date, court approval, affidavit, tax certificates, recording fee and recorded-copy pickup. The accompanying instructions describe obtaining signatures after Commissioners Court approval and checking the packet before filing. A draft drawing and an approved, recorded document are different milestones.

The recording instructions say the clerk does not make changes to a plat and describe correcting errors before recording; a recorded correction requires refiling. Before the team files, have your adviser check the boundaries, names, access, easements and any dedications against what you agreed. Ask the company to resolve discrepancies with its surveyor and the office.

Keep a copy of the final recorded documents and an explanation of any difference from the earlier proposal. If the private agreement relies on a boundary or access route, make sure its attachments describe the same arrangement.

Neither plat recording nor a signed land agreement establishes permission for every construction activity. Ask separately what authorizes surveying, clearing, grading, road work and installation, and what notice or consent the company needs from you.

Reference: Robertson County: plat cover sheet, owner affidavit and recording instructions, undated · Robertson County: subdivision checklist, updated April 29, 2025

Understand the owner affidavit and supporting records

The April 2025 checklist calls for a current title report and an original current tax certificate. The posted recording packet also discusses tax certificates for the land and taxing entities, and an affidavit from each owner or entity. Ask the company who obtains these records, checks them and pays the costs.

The affidavit in the packet includes statements about ownership, authority to represent the owner and the property covered by the tax certificates. If someone asks you to sign it, read what you are being asked to certify. Have your adviser resolve ownership or authority questions before you sign; do not treat the form as a routine acknowledgment that you like the project.

Identify all owners and the person authorized to act for an entity. Make sure the proposed boundary and names match the documents being submitted. Ask how the team will handle a missing record, ownership discrepancy or requested correction without shifting unagreed costs to you.

Confirm the current filing instructions directly with the office through the project team. The April 2025 checklist and older undated filing packet give different original-copy counts and fee amounts. This guide does not quote either as the current total cost. Surveying, title work, taxes, legal review and project engineering are separate questions from a clerk’s filing fee.

Put responsibility for those tasks in the agreement. Clarify who handles revisions and what happens to the documents and costs if the company stops pursuing the site.

Reference: Robertson County: subdivision checklist, updated April 29, 2025 · Robertson County: plat cover sheet, owner affidavit and recording instructions, undated · Robertson County: procedure for filing plats, undated

Do not assume a new road becomes county maintained

Ask whether the battery entrance uses an existing public road, a private road, a shared easement or a road the company proposes to build. Have the team confirm the road authority and any permission needed for the entrance and construction route. Public road access does not establish a private right to cross someone else’s land.

The April 2025 checklist describes a separate process if a road will be dedicated to the county. After completion, the developer returns to Commissioners Court and the commissioner inspects it. The checklist describes a two-year waiting period after approval before the county may accept the road into its inventory, followed by a return to court for the final phase.

That wording does not promise acceptance or automatic county maintenance. If the company’s plan relies on dedication, ask who owns, maintains and repairs the road during construction, the waiting period and any period when acceptance remains unresolved. Confirm the current process with the county for the actual road.

Your agreement should also cover gates, drainage structures, traffic damage and continued access to retained land. Discuss maintenance after a project transfer and what happens if the proposal is canceled. Do not leave those duties dependent on an assumption that the county will eventually take over.

If a new road needs a name, the checklist directs the developer to rural addressing before submitting road names to Commissioners Court. Have the team coordinate that step with the entrance plan and emergency access rather than naming a road in a private drawing and treating it as approved.

Reference: Robertson County: subdivision checklist, updated April 29, 2025

Recheck the address if the driveway changes

The address request form linked from Robertson’s Emergency Management page asks for driveway and structure coordinates and supports a new address, verification or an address change. It expressly says that moving the driveway after an address is issued makes that address invalid and directs the applicant to contact the 911 office for a new address.

If the battery plan moves or adds an entrance, ask the team to confirm what address applies to the facility and what happens to the existing property address. Coordinate the drawings, emergency access information and road naming with the current addressing office.

The county’s current Emergency Management page and the April 2025 subdivision checklist list different addressing contacts. Use the current county contact route and ask which form and instructions are required for the proposed change.

The address form suggests allowing two to three weeks for processing. That is addressing guidance, not a promised battery approval or construction timetable. An assigned address also does not confirm electrical capacity, interconnection approval or permission to build.

Keep the utility connection work separate: ask what studies, rights and upgrade costs remain, and how those decisions affect the option period or start of lease payments. A project can have usable access and property documents while still needing other approvals.

Reference: Robertson County: linked BVCOG address request form · Robertson County: Emergency Management, rural addressing and floodplain contacts · Robertson County: subdivision checklist, updated April 29, 2025

Tell Sunland about the property and the arrangement you would consider

Start with your contact details, then the property location. The form selects Robertson County and Texas; change them if necessary. Acreage and parcel number are optional, so you do not need to commission a survey or gather a recording packet to ask a question.

Tell us whether you would consider leasing, selling or using only part of the land. Mention shared roads, existing plat records, a driveway that may move or a use that must stay accessible. If you have a proposal, describe the area requested and any paperwork you have been asked to sign.

Sunland may follow up to understand the location and your preferences. Sending the inquiry does not authorize entry, plat filing or construction, and it does not establish that the property qualifies for battery storage. You can review the proposed next steps before deciding whether to proceed.