California Surveyors Forums

OK, interesting situation.

I did not do the boundary or topo for the project. That was done by another surveyor at another company. We are performing the engineering for the project. We were told specifically that the boundary from the other company was to be used and that we were not to perform our own field survey.

So…

The project begins (before I arrived on the scene) and design is established based on the boundary and topo provided.

I enter the picture and am asked to write a few descriptions for a trio of easements.

Of course, rather than just jumping on the boundary and topo handed to me, I have to pull the Parcel Map which created the project site in the first place. I notice a discrepancy in the northerly boundary. The boundary and topo show the parcel to be 1% bigger than the Parcel Map (and, in this case, 1% is almost as big as I am tall – and I ain’t short)!

The east line is fixed by a pair of monuments and not in question. The location of the west line is made amorphous by the lack of any monuments set for the PM and the discrepancy between the record PM and the Boundary/Topo provided.

Hmmm…Lot Line Adjustment? Deeded strip? What does the title report say? What does the deed say? What does the Deed of Trust say? Answer to all: nothing. Record of Survey in the works? Well… (still waiting)

In the meantime, I am being pushed to write the easements.

I KNOW (dang…no vB coding) there is a discrepancy along the northerly boundary. Two of the easements wrap around the exterior boundary of the site. The local agency will NOT accept strip descriptions (can’t put strip descriptions into CheapSoft’s new handy program “Area Calcs for Non-Surveyorsâ€￾.

So, how do I run along said north line from the fixed corner to the other corner?

“…along the northerly line…â€￾ would stop at the end of the northerly line.

“…long the northerly line and any extension thereof…â€￾ implies that there may be more land than just the specific parcel and that is not supported by the deed record.

How do I run down the west side of the project to the street on the south side?

I can’t use “…west line if said Parcel X of Parcel Map Y…â€￾ because that is the very question we face.

So…suggestions to make sure that the easement abuts the most westerly line of the project, regardless of where the bloody thing actually falls?

And, yes, I’m purposefully leaving out location, map and other data. Oh, and, Ric, this is purely HYPOTHETICAL, so I’m not aiding and abetting anyone.

Maybe not knowingly... :)

Who? Me? But... Ric! This is a learning experience in the Socratic School. Why on earth would you suggest anything else! >; o

And I made a promise to behave this week , but you quys are sure making it hard to do.

You might want to check with the surveyor who did the topo/boundary survey to confirm the discrepancy. And you might want to do a field check to ease any concerns you may have. I would make sure that the easements cover the the locations of the designed improvements, whether that has anything to do with the boundaries or not.

It's your license. You need to decide how comfortable you are with the situation (jobs are a little scarce right now though). :)

Ian,

Did you run closures on the boundary and each parcel of the fictional PM to see if there are any inherent errors on the distances/bearing shown on the PM. Does the original deed for the lot that was subdivided into the PM have sufficient metes and bounds info to see if that boundary closed?

Any reason the other corners of the fictional PM were never monumented?

"So…suggestions to make sure that the easement abuts the most westerly line of the project, regardless of where the bloody thing actually falls?"

Sounds like you are concerned about a discrepancy of about 6 feet. What if the discrepancy was only 1 foot? You would still have to decide on a distance.

You seem comfortable with writing a strip description, which I assume would be referenced to the same uncertain boundaries as well.

If the priority is to have the easements on the boundaries, regardless of where the boundaries lie, then calling said boundaries and corners should suffice.

Just remember that expensive improvements will not "float" with the preliminary boundary.

Is it a "...compiled from Record Data" map or a "...based on a Field Survey" map?

If the latter, a Record of Survey is not required. The map takes the place of one.

Ian,
Interesting problem, it seems like this would be a problem facing almost any description running along any exterior boundary, in terms of maintaining the full width of the easement. I say trick them describe the the easement as a strip of a certain width being bounded by calls,that you want to control, followed by ... futher described as follows (not you are note describing more particularly...) , but then again it depends if you are concerned about a gap or overlap

I'd alert the owner of the discrepancy, and of the possible delays and costs it could trigger. Also, that the city and title company will also ask about the discrepancy.

Alternatively, along the north side of the easement, follow the "northerly line of said parcel", and along the south side of the easement xx' south of and parallel with the northerly line of Parcel A as shown on said Parcel Map. The strip will meet the minimum width, cover the facilities, but be larger than requested.