Proposed Right-of-Way Policy Manual

Chief executive officers of organizations that purchase and manage right-of-way have a management obligation to budget resources for professional land survey engineering. Investigations by professional societies have demonstrated that current practice by these organizations is inadequate and no longer tolerable to the organization or its abutting neighbors. The high value of land leads to litigation over questionable boundaries. The resultant legal expenses are often greater than the cost of proper land survey engineering—sometimes greater than the value of the land. Record search, field measurement, monumentation, and drafting of legal descriptions should be equal to that required for a land title survey of any tract in the same locality. This professional work should be performed under the supervision of a person registered or licensed to practice land surveying in the jurisdictional area within which the property is located. Every right-of-way plat should be recorded in the same public office that all other land title records are kept.