21-56.1602. SURVEYING PROCEDURES

(a) A Professional Land Surveyor shall spend the necessary time and effort to make adequate investigation to determine if there are encroachments, gaps, lappages, or other irregularities along each line surveyed. Points can be placed on the line from nearby closed or verified traverses and the necessary investigations made from these points. If these investigations are not made. then the surveyor cannot certify to an actual survey of that line and the plat must contain the appropriate qualifications in accordance with these standards.

(b) Any and all visible or determined encroachments or easements on the property being surveyed shall be accurately located and clearly indicated. With respect to recorded easements, the surveyor shall. at a minimum, examine the most recent deeds and recorded plats adjacent to the subject property as well as all deeds and plats recorded after the date of the deed or plat upon which the survey is being based.

(c) Except as provided in Paragraph (d) of the Rule, metal stakes or materials of comparable permanence shall be placed at all comers.

(d) Where a comer falls in a right-of-way, in a tree, in a stream. or on a fence post, boulder. stone, etc., one or more monuments or metal stakes shall be placed in the boundary line so that the inaccessible point may be located accurately on the ground and the map. Corners of a property line on a road right-of-way or margin shall be monumented at the points of entry and exit. The intermediate corners need not be monumented if, due to proximate location to the entry and exit points, they may be confused with the entry and exit points.

(e) The results of a survey when reported to the user of that survey, whether in written or graphic form, shall be prepared in a clear and factual manner. All reference sources shall be identified. Artificial monuments called for in such reports shall be described as found or set. When no monument is found or set for points described in Paragraph (d) of this Rule, shown in such reports, that fact shall be noted.

(f) Where the results of a survey are reported in the form of a plat or a written description, one or more comers shall, by a system of azimuths or courses and distances, be accurately tied to and coordinated with a horizontal control monument of some United States or State Agency survey system, such as the North Carolina Geodetic Survey, where such monument is within 2000 feet of the subject property, right- of-way, easement or other surveyed entity. Where the North Carolina grid system coordinates of said monument are on file in the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the coordinates of both the referenced comer or point and the monument(s) shall be shown in X (easting) and Y (northing) coordinates on the plat or in the written description or document. The coordinates shall be identified as based on 'NAD 83', indicating North American Datum of 1983 or as 'NAD 27' indicating North American Datum of 1927. The tie lines to the monuments must be sufficient to establish true north or grid north bearings for the plat or description if the monuments exist in pairs. Control monuments within a previously recorded subdivision maybe used in lieu of grid control. In the interest of bearing consistency with previously recorded plats, existing bearing control may be used where practical. In the absence of Grid Control, other natural or artificial monuments or landmarks shall be used. In all cases, the tie lines shall be sufficient to accurately reproduce the subject lands from the control or reference points used.

(g) Area is to be computed by double meridian distance or equally accurate method and shown on the face of the plat, written description or other document. Area computations by estimation, by planimeter, by scale, or by copying from another source are not acceptable methods, except in the case of tracts containing inaccessible areas and in these areas the method of computation will be clearly stated.