GIS
I am having a conversation with a potential client who wants to rebuild a garage on an existing foundation. The town wants to know the measurement from the foundation to a nearby brook.
It is possible that the client??s garage project will not require a Request for Determination of Applicability under the Wetlands Protection Act if the project is not 200 feet or more from the brook. The town would like the client to hire a surveyor to make the measurements and the client contacted me.
If I take a preliminary look at the town??s GIS database I can easily see that there is no way there can be 200 feet between the brook and the project. Looking through the database there are many layers of information and even some historic aerial photographs that show the old structure.
Further the client??s deed indicates there was a survey to determine the boundary long ago. Each course is described as a bearing to the nearest minute of arc (implying a transit was used) and distances are to the hundredth of a foot with some being to the tenth of one foot. The description is also very precise and closes to within one foot.
I presented a plot of the deed superimposed on the town??s GIS and it shows that the project would be approximately 120 feet from the brook. Even with resolution errors there is no way the project would be 200 or greater from the brook and the town needs to advise what erosion control measures need to be taken and either let the client build the garage or deny it.
I would like to spare my client from what I believe to be the unnecessary expense of a survey to make this determination. I also think the town should be able to use their own software tools, and that using the GIS, in terms of this project is more than adequate for that determination.
Log in to reply.