Going to add myself to what's probably a long list of surveyors who regret ever stepping foot in DeFUNiak Springs.
This is the worst POS area I have EVER tried to survey...and believe me, that is saying something.
Record plat? Not on file with clerk's office - get some half-a$$ tax map looking thing, no dimensions, not to scale, most lots missing from it...
Every deed refers to "VanKirk Plat". great. Where is it? Finally found an old, tattered, scale copy at the planning dept that is so fragile, making a copy is not an option. Few dimensions on it and none that help me, of course. Scaled it all there, at least I have something. I have to say the folks at the planning dept have been more than helpful - Loretta, if you lurk here, thank you again, you are the best!!..anyhow...
Monumentation - found 6 or so markers in as many blocks which make little sense (at this point), just other surveyors guesses, I am supposing.
At this point, the best field evidence is the physical location of the roads, improvements, etc. Trying to make that all fit in any kind of harmony with the scaled "plat"...yeah, right...
Anyone else here on this list? Got any words of advice, besides RUN!! ??
Sounds like a typical panhandle situation, although I will say Santa Rosa county is pretty good. My sympathies.
We have something like that here in this area. Back in the 1960's an Engineer from FL purchased several hundred acres. No survey at the time.
He plotted the deed (no closure on the deed as one of the calls was "up the river" with no bearings or distances. He did an overlay with that deed plot and a USGS Quad map. In this area they have a 40 foot contour interval.
He then sketched in some roads (based on the 40 foot contours). He also drew in and colored some pretty "lots". He handed a copy of the sketch to a guy who owned a bull dozer and told him to "build these roads". There was no control and zero survey work. The dozer guy had no input on where to put the roads other than the sketch.
The engineer took a different copy of the sketch and handed it to some guys in a classic boiler room operation. They called people and sold lots to people who had never seen the land. Am guessing some had never even been to the state.
Did I mention the sketch had an occasional distance but few bearings?
The bottom line is that place is a HUGE mess. Over the years a few surveyors have gone and put some irons in the ground on the theory (I have heard these words come out of their mouths) ... "well, nobody can prove I did it wrong."
When someone calls me about that place I refuse to take the work.
Having said all that, this is one reason we all need to ask lots of questions of our clients and check out what we are getting into before we agree to do the work.
Larry P
I knew going into this that I was going to be up against it. The initial research I did when estimating the fee turned up no plat on file, yet I knew all of the deeds referred to this particular "record plat". I wasn't blind-sided and put a lot of $$$ in there to deal with this, so that's not the issue, fortunately. But I DID assume I would find plenty of monumentation to work with. This place has been around since the late 1800's. Most property in the area is improved, houses everywhere, certainly a well-established City, no? Ha!!
"No" really isn't an option for me anyway. We provide survey support for the engineering company's continuing contract with this (large) client. We do the work, no matter what it takes. They leave it up to me to get it right. That's why I make the big bucks!! :>)
Just hoping to maybe turn up another unfortunate soul who dared to enter Nightmare Springs and made it out alive...
You have my sympathy. Sometimes you need a crystal ball rather than a surveying instrument.
We have a local area that is similar:
don't know if it's ledgible, but lots are dimenisioned with the same distance at the front and rear...with a 25 degree difference in bearing...oh, bearings...check the N-S bearings out from one side of the road to the other.
Sounds about like my whole county and most of the state. There is a reason the courts have come up with rules about uncertain boundary line establishment. There are probably boundaries established and some still not established but most are uncertain as far as a surveyor is concerned. Time to get the landowners to resolve these problems with a surveyors help. You just can't go retrace (what would you retrace), it take mores than that and you can't stake it from the record either because of the mass uncertainty. But the landowners have probably already dealt with the issues in many areas. Boundary settlement doctrines control and are needed here, so apply them. Just get it documented to remove the uncertainty in the future.
I agree with Mr. Day. Remember, even if your state has no statutes of limitation or repose the definition of ALIENATION in Black's clearly refers to this type of situation:
Alienation
In real property law, the transfer of the property and possession of lands, tenaments, or other things, from one person to another. The term is particularly applied to absolute conveyances of real property. The voluntary and complete transfer from one person to another. Disposition by will. Every mode of passing realty by the act of the party, as distinguished from passing it by the operation of law. See also Restraint on alienation.
Restraint on Alienation
A provision in an instrument of conveyance which prohibits the grantee from selling or transfering the property which is the subject of the conveyance. Most such restraints are unenforceable as against public policy and the law's policy of free alienability of land. See restrictive covenant.
You are dealing with one of the situations identified by: "Every mode of passing realty by the act of the party, as distinguished from passing it by the operation of law."
Richard Schaut