Surveyor
The State Survey and Remonumentation Program was created by 1990 PA 345, in order to recover and remonument the original corner positions established and monumented by the original federal government surveyors during the public land surveys. This act outlines a process/program for the state to administer a Survey and Remonumentation Fund to award annual grants to Michigan’s 83 counties for completion and maintenance of the corners. Section 8 of the State Survey and Remonumentation Act contains the requirement for each county to establish a plan for completing the remonumentation of their county within 20 years but does not mandate that work be completed within those 20 years.
Implementing the county monumentation program would mark the first time in 175 years that a concerted effort was made to do this critically needed job. Since the 1850s, there has been no statewide effort to validate corners, even though surveyors’ tools have advanced from a 33-foot chain and a compass to a technological arsenal that includes a device that gives automatic measurements of angles between corners, and instruments that bounce a signal off a satellite to determine the exact longitude and latitude of a given point. Orderly, consistent remonumentation with standardized markers would assist in the documentation and planning of roads and utilities, the (location) of public and private property, the settlement of ownership claims and disputes, and the provision of a central data base containing information on counties and townships throughout the State. Completion of the remonumentation system in a county would enable the county to implement a computerized mapping system that would include the precise location of roads, utilities, and property lines; the corners would serve as the foundation for such a map. Further, the remonumenting on a county-wide basis would be more economical than contracting out a few corners at a time, and individual surveys would be less expensive if surveyors could rely on monumented corners.
Why are there surveyors on my property?
The office of the County Surveyor contracts surveyors to implement the above described program. In doing this work, it is often necessary to cross private property. Each piece of property has a history of survey records and markers. Our goal is to research and interpret them to insure the public land corners are verified or reestablished correctly with minimum inconvenience to you.
Is it legal for these surveyors to trespass?
Surveyors have the right of entry under Act No. 115 – P.A. 1976, Effective May 14, 1976 An act to provide surveyors with a right of entry and to limit liability.
Past Contract Surveyors
Davis Land Surveying- Lapeer
Kennedy Surveying- Oxford
Rowe Professional Services Co. - Lapeer
R. A. Duthler Land Surveyor - Imlay City