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[Utah Code Table of Contents]
[TITLE 17. Table of Contents]
17-23-1 County surveyor to be elected - Requirement to be licensed land surveyor - Authority to contract with licensed land surveyor if no elected county surveyor - County surveyor duties.
(1) (a) The office of the county surveyor in each county shall be filled by election and, except as provided in Subsection (1)(b), the county surveyor shall be a licensed professional land surveyor in the state.
(b) In a county where the office of county surveyor is consolidated with another elected office, all county surveying work shall be performed by a licensed professional land surveyor.
(c) In a county where there is no elected county surveyor:
(i) the county executive or legislative body may, consistent with Section 17-53-313 , contract with a licensed professional land surveyor to perform those duties;
(ii) all county survey work shall be done by a licensed land surveyor;
(iii) the county recorder shall assume and perform all statutory functions and duties of the county surveyor related to the retention and maintenance of survey records;
(iv) the recorder's office shall act as the county surveyor's office only for the purpose of accepting, retaining, and managing county survey records;
(v) the county shall furnish sufficient office space, furniture, stationery, and record books necessary for the county recorder's office to fulfill its functions and duties under Subsection (1)(c)(iv); and
(vi) for purposes of this chapter, "county surveyor" means:
(A) for purposes of the retention and management of county survey records, the county recorder; and
(B) except as provided in Subsection (1)(c)(vi)(A), the licensed land surveyor under contract with the county to perform county surveyor duties.
(2) The county surveyor shall execute:
(a) all orders directed to the surveyor by any court; and
(b) all orders of survey required by the county executive or county legislative body.
(3) (a) The surveyor of each county shall:
(i) advise the county executive and county legislative body regarding all surveying work;
(ii) perform or arrange for the performance of all surveying work for the county;
(iii) permanently keep at county government offices at the county seat a fair and accurate record of all surveys made, including legal descriptions and geographic coordinates, all surveys received pursuant to Section 17-23-17 , and all corner files received pursuant to Section 17-23-17.5 ;
(iv) number progressively all surveys received and state by whom and for whom the surveys were made;
(v) deliver a copy of any survey to any person or court requiring the survey after the payment of the fee established by the county legislative body;
(vi) ensure that all surveys of legal subdivisions of sections are made according to the United States Manual of Surveying Instructions in effect at the time the survey is completed;
(vii) verify the correctness of or establish correct coordinates for all survey reference monuments set in place and shown on all subdivision maps and plats which have a spatial relationship with any section or quarter section corner; and
(viii) perform other duties required by law.
(b) In arranging for the performance of surveying work for the county under Subsection (3)(a)(ii), a surveyor may comply with Section 17-53-313 .
(4) (a) The county surveyor or his designee shall establish all corners of government surveys and reestablish all corners of government surveys where corners have been destroyed and where witness markers or other evidences of the government corners remain so that the corners established by government survey can be positively located.
(b) The corners shall be reestablished in the manner provided in Section 17-23-13 for establishing corners.
(c) The county surveyor shall keep a separate record of the established and reestablished corners of government surveys, giving the date and names of persons present and shall provide those records to his successor when he vacates his office.
(d) Established or reestablished corners shall be recognized as the legal and permanent corners.
(5) The county executive or legislative body may direct
the county surveyor or his staff to perform engineering and
architectural work if the county surveyor or his staff is
qualified and licensed to perform that work.
2001
17-23-2 Office furnishings and supplies - Filing and indexing fees - Records remain county property.
(1) The county shall furnish an office, furniture, and all stationery and record books necessary for the surveyor's office.
(2) The county legislative body, by ordinance or resolution, may establish the fee to be collected by the county for filing and indexing a map of a survey. Fees for filing of maps under Section 17-23-17 shall be governed by Section 17-23-19 .
(3) All records, maps, plats, profiles, calculations,
and field notes of all surveys made by the county surveyor
in an official capacity during the surveyor's term of office,
or by persons designated by the surveyor to do survey work
on behalf of the county, or maps of a survey filed under
Section
17-23-17
, shall be the property of the county, open
to the inspection of any person, and shall be delivered by
the surveyor to a successor in office.
2001
17-23-3 Seal.
The county surveyor shall have a seal, to be furnished
by the county, the impression of which shall contain the
following words: "State of Utah, County Surveyor," together
with the name of the county in which the same is to be used.
2001
17-23-5 Maps for county or county officers.
(1) Except as provided in Subsection (2), each county surveyor shall:
(a) trace, blueprint, or otherwise make all maps necessary for the county or any county officer; and
(b) file those maps and all data obtained by the surveyor from other sources in the surveyor's office.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to an ownership plat
that the county recorder is required under Section
17-21-21
to prepare and keep.
2001
17-23-7 Survey by direction of court - Compensation.
When land, the title to which is in dispute before any
court, is divided by a county line, the court making an order
of survey may direct the order to the surveyor of any county
in which any part of the land is situated. The court order
shall also provide for reasonable compensation for said services.
1961
17-23-12 Additional powers.
The county surveyor may:
(1) administer oaths or affirmations necessary to legally establish roads and other surveys;
(2) take evidence from any person who may have information to prove any point material to a survey or whenever necessary in the discharge of his official duties; and
(3) establish procedures and guidelines to govern the
electronic submission of plats, records, and other documents
to the county surveyor's office consistent with Title 46,
Chapter 4, Uniform Electronic Transactions Act.
2003
17-23-13 Setting monuments.
(1) (a) When establishing a section, quarter-section, or center corners, the county surveyor or his designee shall set a monument of durable quality.
(b) Wherever the nature of the ground will not allow the setting of a monument at the exact corner as described, then a witness monument shall be set.
(2) (a) Whenever possible, section corners and quarter-section corners shall be witnessed by at least four references of durable quality.
(b) All references shall be carefully described, and their
bearings and distances noted in the report.
1987
17-23-14 Disturbed corners - County surveyor to be notified.
(1) Any person who finds it necessary to disturb any established corner in the improvement of a road, or for any other cause, or finds a monument which needs rehabilitation, shall notify the county surveyor.
(2) The county surveyor or designee shall:
(a) reconstruct or rehabilitate the monument for the corner by lowering and witnessing the corner or placing another monument and witness over the existing monument so that the monument:
(i) is left in a physical condition to remain as permanent a monument as is reasonably possible; and
(ii) may be reasonably located at all times in the future; and
(b) file the record of each reconstruction or rehabilitation
under Subsection (2)(a).
2001
17-23-15 Removal, destruction, or defacement of monuments or corners as misdemeanor - Costs.
(1) No person shall willfully or negligently remove, destroy, or deface any government survey monument, corner, or witness corner.
(2) Any person who violates this section is guilty of a class C misdemeanor and is additionally responsible for:
(a) the costs of any necessary legal action; and
(b) the costs of reestablishing the survey monument, corner,
or witness corner.
2001
17-23-16 Resurveys.
In the resurvey of lands surveyed under the authority of the United States, the county surveyor or his designee shall observe the following rules:
(1) Section and quarter-section corners, and all other corners established by the government survey, shall stand as the true corner.
(2) Missing corners shall be reestablished at the point where existing evidence would indicate the original corner was located by the government survey.
(3) In all cases, missing corners must be reestablished
with reference to the United States Manual of Surveying Instructions.
2001
17-23-17 Map of boundary survey - Procedure for filing - Contents - Marking of monuments - Record of corner changes - Penalties.
(1) As used in this section, "land surveyor" means a surveyor who is licensed to practice land surveying in this state in accordance with Title 58, Chapter 22, Professional Engineers and Professional Land Surveyors Licensing Act.
(2) (a) (i) Each land surveyor making a boundary survey of lands within this state to establish or reestablish a boundary line or to obtain data for constructing a map or plat showing a boundary line shall file a map of the survey that meets the requirements of this section with the county surveyor or designated office within 90 days of the establishment or reestablishment of a boundary.
(ii) A land surveyor who fails to file a map of the survey as required by Subsection (2)(a)(i) is guilty of a class C misdemeanor.
(iii) Each failure to file a map of the survey as required by Subsection (2)(a)(i) is a separate violation.
(b) The county surveyor or designated office shall file and index the map of the survey.
(c) The map shall be a public record in the office of the county surveyor or designated office.
(3) This type of map shall show:
(a) the location of survey by quarter section and township and range;
(b) the date of survey;
(c) the scale of drawing and north point;
(d) the distance and course of all lines traced or established, giving the basis of bearing and the distance and course to two or more section corners or quarter corners, including township and range, or to identified monuments within a recorded subdivision;
(e) all measured bearings, angles, and distances separately indicated from those of record;
(f) a written boundary description of property surveyed;
(g) all monuments set and their relation to older monuments found;
(h) a detailed description of monuments found and monuments set, indicated separately;
(i) the surveyor's seal or stamp; and
(j) the surveyor's business name and address.
(4) (a) The map shall contain a written narrative that explains and identifies:
(i) the purpose of the survey;
(ii) the basis on which the lines were established; and
(iii) the found monuments and deed elements that controlled the established or reestablished lines.
(b) If the narrative is a separate document, it shall contain:
(i) the location of the survey by quarter section and by township and range;
(ii) the date of the survey;
(iii) the surveyor's stamp or seal; and
(iv) the surveyor's business name and address.
(c) The map and narrative shall be referenced to each other if they are separate documents.
(5) The map and narrative shall be created on material of a permanent nature on stable base reproducible material in the sizes required by the county surveyor.
(6) (a) Any monument set by a licensed professional land surveyor to mark or reference a point on a property or land line shall be durably and visibly marked or tagged with the registered business name or the letters "L.S." followed by the registration number of the surveyor in charge.
(b) If the monument is set by a licensed land surveyor who is a public officer, it shall be marked with the official title of the office.
(7) (a) If, in the performance of a survey, a surveyor finds or makes any changes to the section corner or quarter-section corner, or their accessories, the surveyor shall complete and submit to the county surveyor or designated office a record of the changes made.
(b) The record shall be submitted within 45 days of the corner visits and shall include the surveyor's seal, business name, and address.
(8) The Utah State Board of Engineers and Land Surveyors Examiners may revoke the license of any land surveyor who fails to comply with the requirements of this section, according to the procedures set forth in Title 58, Chapter 1, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing Act.
(9) Each federal or state agency, board, or commission,
special district, or municipal corporation that makes a boundary
survey of lands within this state shall comply with this
section.
2004
17-23-17.5 Corner perpetuation and filing - Definitions - Establishment of corner file - Preservation of map records - Filing fees - Exemptions.
(1) As used in this section:
(a) "Accessory to a corner" means any exclusively identifiable physical object whose spatial relationship to the corner is recorded. Accessories may be bearing trees, bearing objects, monuments, reference monuments, line trees, pits, mounds, charcoal-filled bottles, steel or wooden stakes, or other objects.
(b) "Corner," unless otherwise qualified, means a property corner, a property controlling corner, a public land survey corner, or any combination of these.
(c) "Geographic coordinates" means mathematical values that designate a position on the earth relative to a given reference system. Coordinates shall be established pursuant to Title 57, Chapter 10, Utah Coordinate System.
(d) "Land surveyor" means a surveyor who is licensed to practice land surveying in this state in accordance with Title 58, Chapter 22, Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors Licensing Act.
(e) "Monument" means an accessory that is presumed to occupy the exact position of a corner.
(f) "Property controlling corner" means a public land survey corner or any property corner which does not lie on a property line of the property in question, but which controls the location of one or more of the property corners of the property in question.
(g) "Property corner" means a geographic point of known geographic coordinates on the surface of the earth, and is on, a part of, and controls a property line.
(h) "Public land survey corner" means any corner actually established and monumented in an original survey or resurvey used as a basis of legal descriptions for issuing a patent for the land to a private person from the United States government.
(i) "Reference monument" means a special monument that does not occupy the same geographical position as the corner itself, but whose spatial relationship to the corner is recorded and which serves to witness the corner.
(2) (a) Any land surveyor making a boundary survey of lands within this state and utilizing a corner shall, within 90 days, complete, sign, and file with the county surveyor of the county where the corner is situated, a written record to be known as a corner file for every public land survey corner and accessory to the corner which is used as control in any survey by the surveyor, unless the corner and its accessories are already a matter of record in the county.
(b) Where reasonably possible, the corner file shall include the geographic coordinates of the corner.
(c) A surveyor may file a corner record as to any property corner, reference monument, or accessory to a corner.
(d) Corner records may be filed concerning corners used before the effective date of this section.
(3) The county surveyor of the county containing the corners shall have on record as part of the official files maps of each township within the county, the bearings and lengths of the connecting lines to government corners, and government corners looked for and not found.
(4) The county surveyor shall make these records available for public inspection at the county facilities during normal business hours.
(5) Filing fees for corner records shall be established by the county legislative body consistent with existing fees for similar services. All corners, monuments, and their accessories used prior to the effective date of this section shall be accepted and filed with the county surveyor without requiring the payment of the fees.
(6) When a corner record of a public land survey corner is required to be filed under the provisions of this section and the monument needs to be reconstructed or rehabilitated, the land surveyor shall contact the county surveyor in accordance with Section 17-23-14 .
(7) A corner record may not be filed unless it is signed by a land surveyor.
(8) All filings relative to official cadastral surveys
of the Bureau of Land Management of the United States of
America performed by authorized personnel shall be exempt
from filing fees.
2001
17-23-18 Amendment of survey maps or narratives by affidavit of corrections.
(1) Any survey map or narrative filed under the provisions of this chapter may be amended by an affidavit of corrections:
(a) to show any courses or distances omitted from the map or narrative;
(b) to correct an error in the description of the real property shown on the map or narrative; or
(c) to correct any other errors or omissions where the error or omission is ascertainable from the data shown on the map or narrative as recorded.
(2) (a) The affidavit of correction shall be prepared by the licensed professional land surveyor who filed the map or narrative.
(b) In the event of the death, disability, or retirement from practice of the surveyor who filed the map or narrative, the county surveyor may prepare the affidavit of correction.
(c) The affidavit shall set forth in detail the corrections made.
(d) The seal and signature of the licensed professional land surveyor filing the affidavit of correction shall be affixed to the affidavit.
(3) The county surveyor having jurisdiction of the map or narrative shall certify that the affidavit of correction has been examined and that the changes shown on the map or narrative are changes permitted under this section.
(4) Nothing in this section permits changes in courses
or distances for the purpose of redesigning parcel configurations.
2003
17-23-19 County permitted to establish Public Land Corner Preservation Fund - Use of fund - Fee schedule for filing maps.
(1) The county legislative body may establish by ordinance a fund to be known as the Public Land Corner Preservation Fund. Moneys generated for the fund shall be used only to pay expenses incurred and authorized by the county surveyor in the establishment, reestablishment, and maintenance of corners of government surveys pursuant to the powers and duties provided under Title 17, Chapter 23, and Title 57, Chapter 10.
(2) The county legislative body may by ordinance establish
a fee schedule for filing maps in the county surveyor's office
of surveys filed under Section
17-23-17
, subdivisions, road dedication plats, and other
property plats. All moneys collected under this subsection
shall be deposited with the county treasurer to be credited
to the Public Land Corner Preservation Fund.
1993
