I prepared an ATLA/ACSM Land Title Survey (2011 standards) on a facility similar to a Tank Farm or a Processing Plant. They are similar in the sense that there are overhead and on-surface pipes running all over the place from various buildings to one another and to storage tanks. I am now being asked to prepare ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey. And in the 2016 ALTA/NSPS Standards requirement number 5E.iv basically requires, what used to be 11(a), which is the standards I did a previous survey of this site on.?ÿ
Question 1: The reason for 5E.iv seems to be (or "is") to be sure that utilities for possible easements be shown. These pipes on sleepers and attached to sides of buildings should not be indications of easements. Are they necessary to fullfill 5E.iv?
Question 2: If they are necessary/required: (A) how do you justify the cost to a client that doesn't care to see them, or (B) can they be excluded within your scope by stating that you will show utilities that serve the site or may serve adjoiners??ÿ?ÿ
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I??m of the opinion that a utility, as used in the standards, is a service provided by others required for the normal operation of the site or crossing the site to provide the same to others. ?ÿ
For example if electric service comes onto the site at a meter on a building. ?ÿThen the owner of the site runs lines on his side of the meter to other structures on the site, I don??t think that is what is intended by the term utility as used in the standards
Use the last Table A item to contractually define and limit what will be shown.?ÿ
So add under Item 21, things that will not be shown. Or are you saying further define?ÿ5E.iv to be utilites that appear to "serve the site from the utility provider", or appear to "serve an adjoining site"...
Something like that?
It sounds like they want the ALTA to also serve as a site as-built drawing for some design project.?ÿ Educate them that it would be more effective, if they need both an ALTA for financing and an as-built topo for design, that you provide separate deliverables for the two needs, and that an ALTA is designed to address matters of title rather than provide a base information drawing for design.
If they continue to insist on having you provide a one-map-does-all hybrid, prepare a proposal that includes accurately locating and depicting the on-site, no-easement pipes on the ALTA, and also includes a fee which does not include that info.?ÿ That may open up the discussion of whether or not they really need that info, and if so, if it may actually be both more practical and more cost effective to have them depicted on separate maps.