Are you buying a lot or selling some property? If so, an accurate survey is essential to protect your rights. Your local zoning department will require a land survey as part of the sales process in most jurisdictions.
There are a variety of reasons people combine or divide the land. Property owners with large tracts of land may wish to separate a portion of their land and sell it for profit. Sometimes land is willed to various family members, and they want to divide the land into pieces, so each person owns a portion. In other cases, a property owner may wish to purchase land from a neighbor and combine this land with his current parcel. No matter what the reason, combining or dividing land takes careful planning, and it helps the property owners be informed about the process.
Your best first step will be to contact your local city hall and speak with someone in the Community Development or the Planning and Zoning Department.
The person in this department will tell you to hire a licensed surveyor to draft a certified survey map (CSM) that depicts the proposed location of your property’s new boundaries. Once you’ve hired a surveyor, he will locate your lot lines during his fieldwork and then speak with you about how you wish to reconfigure the boundaries.
You can help the process move smoothly by requesting a list of the CSM requirements from the local Planning and Zoning Department. They will inform you of requirements such as minimum lot size and road frontage. Most municipalities have a survey checklist that will include what features need to be depicted on the plat, such as topography, all known easements, setback lines, etc. If any of these required details are missing from your CSM, approval of your project may be delayed.
After completing the fieldwork, your surveyor will begin to draft your survey.
You or your representative will need to appear before the Plan Commission for them to approve your CSM. Most Plan Commission meetings are monthly. To get on the agenda, you will need to submit copies of your CSM along with your application before the meeting date. It is in your best interest to inform your surveyor of the submission date so that he can email you a digital copy of the CSM before this date. Most municipalities require you to submit both digital and printed copies of the CSM. Be prepared to make copies of the digital file at a local store like Office Depot. All CSM’s are printed on legal size paper, so you may be able to use your home printer.
Be sure to review other requirements prior to the meeting, such as the fees you need to pay for your CSM to be approved. At this meeting, the Plan Commission will vote either to approve or deny your CSM. In some cases, approval might be contingent on specific conditions and you must submit a revised version of your CSM. You will need to communicate these revisions to your surveyor, and he will provide you with an updated version of the CSM in a timely manner.
Once the CSM is approved, you will receive an original signed copy of the plat. You will need to get your signature notarized and then deliver it to the Planning Department; this department will then forward the CSM to various municipal offices for signature. Most municipalities will automatically record your CSM with the county surveyor. Once the survey is recorded, you have officially divided or combined the land, and it is now legal.
Why hire Land Surveys Inc. for your land survey? Our years of experience in land surveying help your approval processes go smoothly. Our goal in all survey projects is to be responsive to the needs of our clients and provide accurate and economical land surveys. We approach your project as a trusted partner, and we are not satisfied until you are satisfied. Please contact us to learn how we can help you.