I may be involved in this new project, it is for a new utility line to run through many different parcels. I have been asked to prepare the easements across the parcels.
My question are:
1) Would it be better to get a temporary easement per the contruction drawings to contruct the utility and then do an as-built survey and prepare a metes and bounds description exactly centered along the installed line and facilities?
2)Typically one would create a seperate map and description for each parcel, but there are so many easements that the utility is trying to avoid the huge expense in filing fees and try to combine the mapping. I'm not sure they can combine the descriptions, but... Has anyone prepared them in this way?
I have not been asked to do the contruction layout of the lines, but it may be best if I lay them out and describe the easements from the proposed staking?
Has anyone been involved in the project such as this lateley, is there a new way to skin a cat?
Thanks
I would use plan and production sheets (I think it is called in landdesktop/c3d). So, you file one map but it has many page numbers with break lines. Not sure how they treat this for filing purposes though. The descriptions can reference page numbers as well as stationing along the route.
If all the sidelines are requiring monumentation then it seems a survey grade asbuilt would not be needed. Unless the easements is going to be just wide enough to accomodate required clearances and have no room for error.
this is what i have been doing for the last 18 months - probably different circumstances- our last project is for a 160 foot wide transmission line 80 miles across 5 or so counties in north texas.
a proposed route is designed
property owners contacted
property boundary lines surveyed
route is staked
route is adjusted
legals and exhibit plats prepared for each parcel
price of easement negotiated
transmission line built.
What RA said.
Each parcel deserves it's own easement. If the utility company can't afford the filing fees for a large number of parcels, how can they even think about purchasing R/W?
> a proposed route is designed
> property owners contacted
> property boundary lines surveyed
> route is staked
> route is adjusted
> legals and exhibit plats prepared for each parcel
> price of easement negotiated
> transmission line built.
That's what we would do, except that we would add: as-built survey and possible readjustment of easements.
I agree with RA.
Have been surveying powerline easements for the last 3 years. That's exactly the way we do it here in New Mexico.
I have done public utility easements for about 35 years and oil & gas transmission lines for the past decade and I have a few observations.
1. The majority of easements that are obtained with the intent to revise them after asbuilts do not get revised. I did remedial work on eighty miles of pipeline with two bankers boxes of documents and only one (1) description got updated based on the asbuilt prior to our involvement years later.
2. Exhibits that are 24" x 36" will be recorded as an 8 1/2" x 11" and will prove to be worthless in identifying the location of an easement.
3. Easements that are tied to stationing are usually difficult if not impossible to retrace, in part due to observation number 2.
4. Easements that are many miles long and one document is used to create rights over multiple parcels usually results in future title commitments for parcels anywhere close calling the easement as an exception, placing a burden on unrelated parcels.
Each parcel deserves its own description and a legible exhibit at the scale at which it will be recorded. How to make sure the constructing entity follows up with asbuilts and revised descriptions I haven't solved that problem.
Only in very rare instances in Kentucky are easements recorded with actual metes and bounds that tie to a boundary line. The easement is generally centered on the actual location of the poles. Access easements usually have a description of some sort.
There are currently some ideas in the pipeline to require that easements be treated like boundaries albeit with the exception of major utilities.
We're not doing gas or petroleum lines, just water and sewer, but the premiss is the same. I agree with KScott. Each parcel has an easement across it. I have one in Nome for a major water transmission line, that states (ca 1917 or so) that the 40' easement is centered on the pipe, wherever that pipe may lay! Interesting to say the least! Heck, I moved the placement of a new transmission pipe, and the easement went with it. Another thing is we call them permanent utility easements, removes all doubts as to the intent.
