When exactly is a pincushion a pincushion and an original unditurbed monument to be held? That is a matter of professional discretion and sometimes, a can of worms that once the lid has been lifted is quickly closed if that option is left available.
Here is my recent situation. I'm retracing ROW through two old subdivisions done roughly at the the same time by two different surveyors in the mid 1960's. Apparently they didn't get along. The two subdivision share a 1/16th line as their common boundary.
I'm traversing south through the subdivision to the north and find little monumentation but what I do find matches the positions computed from record fairly closely. Life is good and I locate the ROW. As I enter the subdivision to the south and traverse through, I'm not finding anything but old T type metal fence posts at some PC abd PT locations common with lot boundaries. They are all off my computed positions on average 7' in northings. Plat doesn't call for anything but wood hubs to have been set in the interior.
At this point I'm gettting a bald spot from the all the head rubbing and then I have a flash. I need to go back to the subdivision to the north and revisit the 1/16 corner the two subdivisions share that I used to compute the positions to the north and subsequently through the south subdivision. Looking 7' south of the recovered moss covered rebar that fit the subdivision to the north, sure enough I find a 1" IP in perfect condition buried down a foot or so in duff. Which one is it? Now I recover the section corner to the south and quarter corner to the north, controlling the location of the 1/16 corner. The IP to the south is dead on. The rebar to the north that fits that subdivison is 7.2' north of the line. WTF.
I figured out what was going on, but now feel the need to record a ROS documenting what I found. Question is, are some sleeping dogs best left alone? I did eventually recover some rotting remains of hubs to the south that I perpetuated so the right thing to do is at minimum make a record of it. Maybe save some poor sap down the road from stumbling blindly into this trap, but possibly propping open the lid on that can of worms and stamping my name on it.
I'd split the difference and set a new monument in between the two you found.;-)
Its kind of a unique situation, but I wouldn't be afraid to show both of the monuments and just note that one was used for one subdivision and the other was used for the other. Either that or wait for night time when everyone is home and drive through with a bull horn and tell everyone to move your house 7' south.
Read this kind of quick, but if I get the jest of it, it sounds like you uncovered a 7' gap that likely can be considered as additional lands for the southernmost parcels of the northern subdivision.
Either that, or stick your flag in it and claim it for yourself....
Apparently none of the lots on either side of the "gap" realized such a large discrepancy existed, so I'm guessing they are fairly large and/or undeveloped lots.
Regardless, doesn't sound like a fight will result. Perhaps show the southern boundary of the northern subdivision where the 1/16th correctly lies. Not knowing all the specifics, I'll still venture that I would likely be comfortable with showing sidelines of the southernmost lots of the northernmost subdivision extending to the correct location of the 1/16th line.
Its kind of a unique situation, but I wouldn't be afraid to show both of the monuments and just note that one was used for one subdivision and the other was used for the other.
That Sir, is exactly what I intend to do with the ROS. Either that or quietly tip toe away.
My quick vague answer is:
Don't let the sleeping dog lie. Wake it up and try to resolve the issue.
The problem can be that someone else will come along and muddy things up in the future. Talk to some of the local surveyors and see what they know about the area (if there are any). If there are two 1/16th corners 7 feet apart, there are probably at least two controlling lines one each for each of the 1/16ths, and therefore some conflicting senior corners. I have see situations where there are conflicting aliquot corners and courts have ruled that one is the correct corner for one subdivision and the other is the correct one for another subdivision. Get it right and document everything you did, so that most every surveyor that comes behind you sees your logic in your solution and accepts it instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. Most the surveyors that would ignore the conflict and tiptoe away from it are also the same ones that won't disagree with your findings.
I don't think it's really my problem to resolve but the ethical thing to do would be to make others down the road aware of the facts I uncovered. My client is a utility looking for a route to run a fiber optic cable and their only interest is in the ROW's location and the viability of the route. I'll file a ROS referencing both subdivisions and let it go.
Guess it's just not in my nature to tip toe away but also don't want to create disharmoney where none previously existed.
Odd things happen. Sometimes fixing them is waaaaaaay beyond the limits of our project.
An example in PLSSia. Imagine the section corner that should be common to Sections 15, 16, 21 and 22. Simple, right? It is until you discover the corner to be used for everything in Section 15 and 16 is about 30 feet to the east of the corner to be used for everything in Section 21 and 22. Exactly how this came to be, I don't know. But, one thing I do know for sure is that when DOT crews came by about 20 years they used both corners. There were too many small tracts tied to one or the other corner to attempt to resolve the entire mess. There is absolutely no standard reason for this corner to be any different than normal.
