California Surveyors Forums

I would urge CLSA to get involved in this topic as soon as possible.

http://www.californiaeminentdomainrepor ... c-70671141

It looks like the proposal would affect only activities related to an action in eminent domain, but you're right, it needs a closer look and bears watching to see how it will develop as it proceeds through the legislature. If it's not already on the agenda for the upcoming Legislative Committee meeting, I'll suggest it to the chairmen.

Interesting recommendation. It speaks to "activities upon the property which were abusive or lacking in due regard for the interest of the owners."

In cases like that, it would seem appropriate to have a jury hear testimony and rule upon damages, in accordance with the State constitution.

A few years back, I was working on a project involving several agencies. When I spoke to the landowner about access and the work we were going to do, I surprised him by asking him when he would be able to arrange access to various parts of the property and by providing assurances that we would leave as little evidence of our presence as possible. In other words, treating him as if the land was his and we were the visitors.

In contrast, he said that the representatives of the 2 or 3 other agencies coming in to do various testing acted as if they owned the place and he was merely an inconvenient obstacle to be pushed aside. At the outset, they demanded access to certain locations for certain periods of days or weeks at times of their convenience, often made a mess of their work locations without bothering to clean up after themselves, didn't bother closing gates behind themselves, and damaged the private roadways in several places.

We, and others, will have reasonable right of entry by statute only as long as those who work by it don't abuse it and bear in mind who owns the properties, who votes locally and contributes to the campaign coffers of local representatives, and who those representatives are more likely to listen to.

Great comments everyone! This is an excellent opportunity for CLSA to demonstrate some standing!