I am a VA surveyor. Have a person who owns property about 90Ac of which about 55ac is in VA and 45+/- in NC. I do not have a NC license. Some colleagues seem to think I can survey it since the majority of the property is in VA.
I'm sure many of you know the answer and I don't want to step in a steaming pile of pooo. Please let me know.
I am pursing NC licensure, just haven't sat for the exam yet. I know it doesn't matter for this case, but just wanted to make sure you all knew I wasn't lazy!
> I am a VA surveyor. Have a person who owns property about 90Ac of which about 55ac is in VA and 45+/- in NC. I do not have a NC license. Some colleagues seem to think I can survey it since the majority of the property is in VA.
>
> I'm sure many of you know the answer and I don't want to step in a steaming pile of pooo. Please let me know.
>
> I am pursing NC licensure, just haven't sat for the exam yet. I know it doesn't matter for this case, but just wanted to make sure you all knew I wasn't lazy!
My advice is to find a NC surveyor in that area and see if the two of you can team up on the project. He handles the NC side, you handle the VA side.
As to the "I can survey it since the majority of the property is in VA" thing, not true.
Larry P
Just the Virginia part
Thanks for the clarification.
Can anyone document their answer? I would like to see the law/regulation if anyone can find it.
I was under the impression that, if a property was located in both states, I only needed one license.
What happens if the boundary is with the State line? Surely it does not take two licenses.
What do you do if you find that only a small portion of the property lies in the adjoining state and you don't discover it until the job is almost finished? Go find a partner from the adjoining state?
Are we obligated to resolve the location of the state or municipal boundary when we do a survey of property near the political boundary or just scale it off of some document (GIS, State map, Quad sheet)?
The more I think about it the more I think the practical answer is; that, if there is a question about the location of the political boundary as it relates to the property line and there is some reason (color) for a surveyor to believe that a portion of the property in question lies within the political boundary in which he/she is licensed then the surveyor is licensed to survey the entire boundary.
Document your answer please.
> Can anyone document their answer? I would like to see the law/regulation if anyone can find it.
>
> I was under the impression that, if a property was located in both states, I only needed one license.
>
>
> Document your answer please.
Well, every state I know of has a statute that prohibits boundary surveying within the state without a license issued by that state. There's your documentation. If there is an exception for a survey that includes a neighboring state it too must appear in the law. The states I am familiar with do not have the exception.
In some areas of law states do lose their sovereignty to the federal government when interstate commerce is involved, but the federal government does not have any laws regulating land surveying of private non-Indian land, so unless your state has a exception written in the law there is no reason to assume you are exempt from it, just because some of your project is in another state. All the adjoiners in each state are due equal protection under the law. Just because they happen to abut a property that crosses the state line they don’t lose the protection the surveying regulations of their state provide them.
You can obtain a tempory permit in NC for the project. But why don't you just call Andy Ritter or David Tuttle at the board office at
Board Address
All correspondence and requests for information or application forms should be addressed to:
North Carolina Board of Examiners
for Engineers and Surveyors
4601 Six Forks Rd., Suite 310
Raleigh, North Carolina 27609
Telephone Number (919) 791-2000
Fax Number (919) 791-2012
Contacts and Email Addresses
Andrew L. Ritter, Executive Director aritter@ncbels.org
Lou Ann Buck, Director of Administration labuck@ncbels.org
David S. Tuttle, Board Counsel dstuttle@ncbels.org
Mark D. Mazanek, Director of Business Licensure & Compliance mmazanek@ncbels.org
David J. Evans, Assistant Executive Director djevans@ncbels.org
Go sit for the NC License. I'm taking the 2 hour exam tomorrow, so that wouldn't be a problem for me after I pass it.;-)
Jason
> > Can anyone document their answer? I would like to see the law/regulation if anyone can find it.
> >
> > I was under the impression that, if a property was located in both states, I only needed one license.
> >
> >
> > Document your answer please.
>
> Well, every state I know of has a statute that prohibits boundary surveying within the state without a license issued by that state. There's your documentation. If there is an exception for a survey that includes a neighboring state it too must appear in the law. The states I am familiar with do not have the exception.
>
> In some areas of law states do lose their sovereignty to the federal government when interstate commerce is involved, but the federal government does not have any laws regulating land surveying of private non-Indian land, so unless your state has a exception written in the law there is no reason to assume you are exempt from it, just because some of your project is in another state. All the adjoiners in each state are due equal protection under the law. Just because they happen to abut a property that crosses the state line they don’t lose the protection the surveying regulations of their state provide them.
Well stated Mr. Aliquot. There is no rule of which I am aware that specifically covers surveying property that lies in two states. Have always heard and considered what is stated above as being how things are done.
Larry P
It might be a really good thing to follow the advice of Mr. Evans.
Having said that, I think I heard recently that the Board has stopped issuing temporary permits. So, you might not be allowed a temporary permit.
Then again, it won't cost that much to call them and ask. If you do, let us know your results.
Larry P
I believe you must have a NC license to survey in NC, the temporary license avenue may help but if you need someoene to work with, I travel back and forth to Va monthly and depending on location maybe we could work something out.
Question for my VA/NC bretherenoifu
I had a similar situation on an individual residential lot on the nc/sc line. Passed it on to a dual licensee. The sc bor got back to me a week after closing and inferred that the location of the bedroom would determine who would have to certify the survey. Huh. Glad I passed it on. I surely was not interested on certifying the state line.
Question for my VA/NC bretherenoifu
Funny that you mention that JB. Gary Thompson told a group of surveyors a month or so back that when the state line goes through a house the location of the bedroom determines where they owners vote and go to school.
Some questions had come up awhile back on the state line in the Gastonia area. Sure enough, some families changed states and a very few had the line go through the house.
Larry P
