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What would you do?

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(@pa_surveyor)
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I am wondering what other surveyors would do in this scenario.

Say you have a 1000' east / west boundary line that is the south line of the most senior parcel in your area. The senior deed calls for a straight line between two monuments. You find both original monuments.

Multiple monuments were set along the common boundary line due to the landowner to the south having their property subdivided into 200' lots. All of the deeds for subdivided lots in the south call for the common boundary line and note that monuments were set. You find all of those original monuments as well.

You are working for owners of some of the subdivided lots. They want you to set all of their corners and prepare a map. Of course the monuments to the junior lots are not exactly on line between the two original senior monuments. Some of them are off by a few feet on either side of the line (into the senior parcel or not all the way to it).

I'm trying to make a scenario where there is no question to the true north boundary line of the subdivided lots... I'm not trying to consider things like adverse possession.

Would you set additional monuments on the east-west line between the original senior monuments that are very close to found monuments and make a pin cushion because the other mons were a few (2-3) feet off? You would show all monuments on the plat.

Would you just accept all of the monuments for line, not set additional monuments, and show offsets on the plat?

Maybe accept all monuments and show bearing breaks on the record line?

What do you think?

Thanks,
Mark

 
Posted : 03/02/2013 6:29 pm
(@ridge)
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Depends on your state law concerning establishment. You need to collect the evidence along each lot and determine whether the line has been established by the junior markers or not. What have the landowners done and does what they have done establish the boundary. It's not all about whether its on the line of off the line but rather what your state law is.

Probably not the answer you were looking for. It may not apply in your state but it would in mine.

 
Posted : 03/02/2013 6:59 pm
(@don-blameuser)
Posts: 1867
 

The subdivider couldn't sell what he did not own. That's the answer to one scenario, and
the subdivider intended to divide and dispose of all his property. That's the answer to the other.
The monuments are points on line.

Don

 
Posted : 03/02/2013 7:18 pm
(@pa_surveyor)
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Hi Don,

I agree, the found monuments are points on the north / south lot lines of the subdivision and should be held for direction. But would you set other corners just a few feet away?

Mark

 
Posted : 03/02/2013 7:31 pm
(@brian-allen)
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> The subdivider couldn't sell what he did not own. That's the answer to one scenario, and
> the subdivider intended to divide and dispose of all his property. That's the answer to the other.
> The monuments are points on line.
>
> Don

Yes, Don, that is all true. However, I think the question was about the location of the boundary line(s), not ownership.
So the answer would be (as Leon stated) based in the law, dependent upon facts, which are derived from evidence, which should be properly collected by the surveyor.
In other words, we need more evidence.

 
Posted : 03/02/2013 7:56 pm
(@don-blameuser)
Posts: 1867
 

Dunno.
That's harder.
I'd need to know more about the specific situation.
Sorry.
Now that the football game is over, you're probably going to be getting a LOT of wise advice:-)

Don

 
Posted : 03/02/2013 7:58 pm
(@dave-karoly)
Posts: 12001
 

If the existing monuments don't mark the boundary corners then, yes, I would set monuments at the corners so that anyone walking out there is on notice that the old monument may not be the corner.

 
Posted : 03/02/2013 8:06 pm
(@ridge)
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I'd agree based that the boundary has not been established. So then you would correct the error. But I would look into what the landowners have done, whether they have built improvements based upon the previous markers, whether they have relied upon the markers and how they have treated the markers as a boundary or not. Time would be a factor. So that's why I said it depended on state boundary law (unless it's a federal boundary).

Having read some Kali law here it probably doesn't apply to much there.

So now if the boundary hasn't been established and you are going to correct the error shouldn't you pull the old non boundary markers once the new ones are in? Haven't you already determined they are not boundary corners? I suppose their position should be referenced on the plat as points that established the line in one direction. You could simply state the distance from the corner along the line to the position of the errant marker that was removed.

So now it's a few decades later and the surveyor decides your markers are not on the line. Should he do what you did and move it again or not? Maybe the lines will be established by then and he can leave them alone. Or maybe the tweaking will go on forever, job security.

 
Posted : 03/02/2013 8:07 pm
(@pa_surveyor)
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Before this gets going, I just want to say that I intended this to be a completely hypothetical scenario. There is no additional evidence other than what I already said. No evidence of occupation or anything like that.

Is it acceptable to put breaks in a line that is supposted to be straight?

If your client is asking to set corners, can you avoid making this into a pin cushion scenario?

And what would you show on the map?

Those are the things that I'm trying to get at.

Thanks,
Mark

 
Posted : 03/02/2013 8:09 pm
(@scott-mclain)
Posts: 784
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What would you do? I hate pin cushions, BUT...

I would set new irons on the East-West line. As it has been said, "You cannot sell what you never owned". Those irons 2-3 feet off line are wrong and have always been wrong. I would try to track down the surveyor that set them so they could come correct or pull them, in hopes to avoiding the pin-cushion and if my iron was so far out like that, I would want you to call me.
As for the map, I would show any of the irons that did not get pulled after my contacting the PS who set them.

 
Posted : 03/02/2013 8:12 pm
(@dave-karoly)
Posts: 12001
 

I take it the O.P. is Penni, not Cali and certainly not Uti or Texi for that matter.

Everytime someone calls California "Cali" I jump around yelling at my computer like Jim Harbaugh LOL.

Did you know there is a Frisco, TX full of 49er fans? I think it's a suburb of Dallas.

If this were in California then I would ask where are we? Is it Redwood timberland with 6' diameter trees? In that case nobody would probably care enough to waste years and 100s of thousands of dollars in the California Court system which is unable to resolve anything anyway.

On the other hand if it is in downtown San Francisco then people would probably care and unless you have direct evidence of an agreement just forget about it.

 
Posted : 03/02/2013 8:14 pm
(@dave-karoly)
Posts: 12001
 

What would you do? I hate pin cushions, BUT...

The Law favors repose.

 
Posted : 03/02/2013 8:15 pm
(@dave-karoly)
Posts: 12001
 

I wish there was one set of answers chiseled into stone but the world of legal matters such as boundaries is not like that.

It is not a moral issue of virtue versus evil.

It is an issue of imperfect people relying or not on imperfect boundaries which don't meet our sometimes unreasonable expectations of perfection.

 
Posted : 03/02/2013 8:18 pm
(@dave-karoly)
Posts: 12001
 

Advice number one to newspaper editors: don't print a colorful 49er section speculating on "is this the new dynasty" before the danged game.

 
Posted : 03/02/2013 8:20 pm
(@ridge)
Posts: 2702
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I don't know Dave, a 6 foot diameter Redwood tree is probably worth some bucks, but you probably can't cut one down California (SP) so who cares where the line is.

Hey, I've been called a lot worse than from Uti. I've been to foreign countries like California and Texas. Nice to visit but ain't moving there. I just applied for a passport so I'll still be able to visit if I must.

 
Posted : 03/02/2013 8:26 pm
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