California Surveyors Forums

So in a request to a local city, for information on two existing street monuments, I received the following reply from an engineer. They are only a low level engineer, but for them to send this kind of advise out is just plain astonishing to me.

As some of you know, I've been in the public sector and this just validates some of my previous experience from some, lol. Now grab some popcorn, a soda, and enjoy!!!

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"Keith,

There is no information on how those specific two monuments line up relative to the public right-of-way. I’ve attached 2 County Assessor Maps encompassing (Road 1) from (Road 2) to (Road 3). These maps show the alignment of the right-of-way along that stretch of road, but it will not show monuments. You might be able to use these to figure out how the two monuments line up with the right-of-way.

You can contact XXXX (cc’ed) at xxx-xxx-xxxx, if you want to talk to our Survey Office staff."

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I hope you didn't spit up your popcorn laughing, as I almost did when I read this. So if anyone wants to establish a right of way from assessors maps in this city, I guess they will approve your plans, LMAO!!!

Now back to more research.

You send that to the boss, and you request an answer to your question at his/her "earliest convenience".

No joke, you are conducting business. Make an example. We have no time for clowns like this.

If you recall, Keith, we met on your last day at San Mateo. I was a young LSIT (at the time) they'd just hired in the mapping division of the assessor's office.

This is the sort of response that people coming in for help often got. I spent more time explaining to other staff members the difference between tax parcels and legal parcels than I care to admit. The flip side was in explaining to the public that just because the GIS or APM seemed to show that they owned their neighbor's azaleas, doesn't make it so. Again, something that generally wasn't explained before, as Mapping/GIS techs generally aren't given the knowledge to defer to a Surveyor in those matters, or a background in what they're actually drawing on the map. To them, it's a property line, and that 142.5' across the front of the parcel is what it actually measures on the ground, with no gaps or overlaps anywhere.

A client called me and the engineering dept in her city told her she didn't need to hire a surveyor, gave her a copy of the assessors map pointed to the 4 corners of her property and said dig here and you will find a iron pipe marking your property corners. This was in a city known for it's lack of monumentation.

Looks like to guy did all he could, based on what he knew about surveying, to help you. Did you bother to call the survey office and speak to a staff surveyor? Did the 'low level' engineer send you copies of field notes?

I do not see anything to laugh about except the post itself.

I got to go with LS 4722 on this.

You can contact XXXX (cc’ed) at xxx-xxx-xxxx, if you want to talk to our Survey Office staff."

Did you? Why waste your time mocking some engineering tech?

To respond, yes I contacted the survey section but they do not have a licensed surveyor on staff. Other monuments recently inquired about their documentation also have no records or field notes that were available to me.

I'm still waiting for answers, while at the same time I get to show undocumented monuments in the position that I establish them to be at from other monuments that fit.

..while at the same time I get to show undocumented monuments in the position that I establish them to be at from other monuments that fit.

Story of most of my survey life.