Chapter 16 - § 16.1 • SURVEYS

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 16.1 • SURVEYS

§ 16.1.1—In General

The legislature has declared it to be a public policy of the State of Colorado to encourage the establishment and preservation of accurate land boundaries, including durable monuments and complete public records, and to minimize the occurrence of land boundary disputes and discrepancies,¹ and has established minimum standards for land surveys and plats.² These standards are applicable to all agencies of state, county, and local government as well as to individuals, corporations, and partnerships engaged in the private practice of land surveying. The standards do not apply to the location or relocation of unpatented mining claims.³

For the right of a surveyor to enter onto private or public land, see C.R.S. § 18-4-515.

§ 16.1.2—Subdividing a Section

A professional surveyor who conducts a survey for the purpose of locating a parcel of land which is described in terms of the nomenclature of the public land survey system must proceed according to the applicable rules contained in the current Manual of Instructions for the Survey of the Public Lands of the United States (hereinafter Manual),⁴ except that monumentation must conform to C.R.S. § 38-51-104.⁵

A section may be subdivided by surveying all necessary aliquot lines in the field, or by computing the location of the required aliquot corners after making a field survey which includes all required control corners of the section.⁶ A section so subdivided must include all control corners that were originally monumented by the United States government, which must either be found or restored in the field according to the statutory standards.⁷ The location of the original aliquot corners of, and procedures used in, the governing official United States government survey, where applicable, take precedence.⁸ Monument records describing each corner must be filed (pursuant to C.R.S. § 38-53-104) with the board of registration for professional engineers and professional land surveyors.⁹

§ 16.1.3—Monumentation of Subdivisions

Prior to the recording of a plat, the external boundaries of a platted subdivision must be monumented on the ground.¹⁰ The professional land surveyor who prepares the original subdivision plat, exemption plat, or subdivision exemption plat must provide these external boundary monuments.¹¹

Before a sales contract for any lot, tract, or parcel within a subdivision is executed, all boundaries of the block within which the lot, tract, or parcel is located must be marked with monuments. The seller of the lot, section, or parcel must provide the services of a professional land surveyor to establish block monumentation and lot markers.¹² The corners of any lot, tract, or parcel sold separately must be marked within one year of the effective date of the sales contract.¹³ For any complete block sold as a unit, it is the responsibility of the subsequent seller of any separate lot, tract, or parcel within the block to retain a professional land surveyor to establish lot markers.¹⁴ Technical specifications for such monuments are contained in C.R.S. § 38-51-105 (passim).

§ 16.1.4—Land Survey Plats

A "land survey plat" is a plat that shows the information developed by a monumented land survey or shows one or more set monuments pursuant to C.R.S. §§ 38-51-104 and 38-51-105 and includes all information required by C.R.S. § 38-51-106.¹⁵

A land survey plat must include, but is not limited to, the following:¹⁶

• A scale drawing of the boundaries of the land parcel;
• All recorded and apparent rights of way and easements, and, if research for recorded rights of way and easements is done by someone other than the professional land surveyor who prepares the plat, the source from which such recorded rights of way and easements were obtained; if the client wishes not to show rights of way on the land survey plat, a statement that the client did not want rights of way and easements shown;
• All field-measured dimensions necessary to establish the boundaries on the ground and all dimensions for newly created parcels necessary to establish the boundaries on the ground;
• A statement by the professional land surveyor that the survey was performed by such surveyor or under his or her responsible charge;
• A statement by the professional land surveyor explaining how bearings, if used, were determined;
• A description of all monuments, both found and set, which mark the boundaries of the property and of all control monuments used in conducting the survey;
• A statement of the scale or representative fraction of the drawing, and a bar-type or graphical scale;
• A north arrow;
• A written property description, which must include, but not be limited to, a reference to the county and state together with the section, township, range, and principal meridian or established subdivision, block, and lot number, or any other method of describing the land established by the general land office or bureau of land management;
• The signature and seal of the professional land surveyor;
• Any conflicting boundary evidence; and
• A statement defining the lineal units used including but not limited to meters, chains, feet, and U.S. Survey feet. If it is necessary to define conversion factors, the factors must be a function of the meter as defined by the United States Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology.

It is unlawful for any person to offer to sell, to sell, or to otherwise receive remuneration for any map or plat which purports to be a survey map or plat unless the map or plat conforms with the foregoing standards, requirements, and terminology.¹⁷

Depending on the location of the land, survey plats must contain the following information in the title block: (1) for parcels of land located within the United States rectangular survey system, the section, township, range and principal meridian; or (2) for grants and unsurveyed parcels of land, information relating to the system of indexing the county assessor already has in place.¹⁸

For the survey and plat of cemetery lots, see §§ 15.1.3 and 15.2.3.

§ 16.1.5—Survey Plat Records

The county commissioners of each county are required to designate the county surveyor to create and maintain a survey plat records file and index system for the plat.¹⁹ Within 12 months after the date the monument is accepted in the field by a professional land surveyor performing a monumented land survey or is set by a professional land surveyor, the survey plat must be deposited with the public office designed by the county commissioners.²⁰

Survey plats submitted for depositing must bear original signatures and seals; they must also be made: (1) from a dimensionally stable polyester sheel such as cronar or mylar or other product of equal quality; (2) at least three mils thick; and (3) with nonfading permanent print.²¹

The dimensions of each plat, as specified by county requirements, must be at least 18 inches wide by 24 inches long and no more than 24 inches wide by 36 inches long with a minimum two-inch margin on the left side and a minimum of one-half inch margins on the top, bottom, and right side of the plat.²²

Plats are deposited pursuant to the foregoing for the sole purpose of recording information on surveying monumentation in order to provide survey data for subsequent land surveys and are not construed to affect the description of a subdivision, line, or corner contained in the official plats and field notes filed and of record, or to subdivide property.²³ Plats deposited pursuant to the foregoing do not constitute notice under the recording act.²⁴

Subdivision plats that create parcels of land of 35 acres or more must be filed in the county clerk and recorder's office.²⁵

The board of county commissioners for each county is authorized to make copies of the original field notes and plats of surveys of all lands within their respective counties, surveyed or to be surveyed after March 14, 1877 by the officers appointed by the federal government.²⁶ The copies of field notes and plats must be filed in the office of the county clerk and recorder and then become part of the public records of...