California Surveyors Forums

"Why does it take so long?" the land owner asks. "It just does." I reply.

"Why does it cost so much?" he asks again. "Cause I gotta keep touchin' the paper. Every 6 to eight weeks I gotta pull out the file, figure out where I am in this scenario, what does the city/county want, I don't have all the deeds with the proper signature acknowledgements, it takes forever to get a new title report and on and on and on. If it is not one thing it is another."

"And besides, if it was so easy, you probably wouldn't need me."

This happens whenever the construction industry gets slow. It's called govt job security.
Before my son got laid off plans in cities that normally took 2 or 3 checks for approval were taking 6-7.
One CalTrans jurisdiction plan for a simple driveway removal and curb and sidewalk replacement (where the dwy was) took over 2 years.
Another Caltrans jurisdiction plan was over 9 checks. 3 meetings with the developer, Caltrans plan checker and his supervisor where they said "just make these corrections and it will be approved" resulted in more corrections.
Just the cost of blueprints was staggering.
Too bad govt doesn't have competition.

kwilson wrote: And how should it be recorded?

A lot merger is a lot merger (removing a lot line).

A lot line adjustment should begin and end with the same number of parcels, so I think you ended up with your 0 square feet lot, lol!!!

Once again a fine example of a knowledgable planning department within a city that I will guess doesn't respect the profession of land surveying or have an in-house city surveyor. But then how many city planning departments even know who the city surveyor is for their respective city?

The City of Redding also uses property line adjustments to process mergers, it's been that way since sometime in the 80's. Prior to that The City required a Parcel Map. They have a fairly simple PLA procedure, with planning approval in 5 days if all the required data is submitted. The legal descriptions are then checked by the City Surveyor to see that they conform to the approved PLA etc. PLAs are routinely turned around in less than 2 weeks if the submittal is timely, complete and all documents are correct. The holdups seem to be the ability of the title companies to get deeds of trust modified to reflect the new lot configurations. See the attached handout.

"A lot line adjustment should begin and end with the same number of parcels..."

Actually, the requirement is that there are not MORE parcels at the end than there are at the BEGINNING. It is very common to REDUCE the number of parcels as part of the Lot Line Adjustment Process.

Just sayin'.

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