Section 17.5 – Corner perpetuation and filing — Definitions — Establishment of corner file — Preservation of map records — Filing fees — Exemptions.

Effective 5/12/2015
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 Professional 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.
  • (j)
    • (i) “Township” means a term used in the context of identifying a geographic area in common surveyor practice.
    • (ii) “Township” does not mean a metro township as that term is defined in Section 10-2a-403.

• (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.

Amended by Chapter 352, 2015 General Session