Land_Survey_Specifications.pdf

Land Survey Specifications Natural Resources Conservation Service

Easement Programs

1. SCOPE

A professional land surveyor (Surveyor) licensed and registered in the State of Mississippi shall complete legal boundary surveys, including ingress and egress route as required, for the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Easement Programs. The survey work shall consist of performing all surveys, measurements, computations, drawings, and descriptions required by this specification. The Surveyor shall furnish plat maps, written descriptions of the easement area, suitable electronic media of the survey information, and other items as required.

2. QUALITY OF WORK

Except as otherwise specified herein, all work shall be performed in accordance with the requirements of the Mississippi State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, Rule 21, Minimum Standard for Land Surveying, which shall form a part of this specification. Surveys shall meet the accuracy specifications and positional tolerances for a Class D, Rural Survey as set forth in Appendix B of the herein referenced standard unless otherwise specified by the COR.

Longitude and latitude will be provided for each property corner. Access shall be surveyed, but no monumentation of the access route is required except as required by the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR). The Surveyor will show both the easement and the ingress/egress route to a publicly dedicated right of way.

The easement boundary description shall be clear, accurate, complete, and meet the NRCS’s intent and program requirements. All notes, sketches, computations, and other data shall be complete, legible, and organized in a manner that will allow reproduction of copies.

3. NOTIFICATION OF INTENT TO SURVEY

Prior to the start of survey field work the NRCS will schedule a pre‐survey site visit.

Attending will be the Surveyor, the NRCS Program Manager or the Contracting Officer or the Contracting Officer Representative (COR), or the local District Conservationist (DC) and the landowner or the landowner’s designated representative. During the pre‐survey site visit the proposed easement boundaries will be reviewed, as will the easement access route (if the easement is not adjacent to a publicly dedicated right‐of‐way).

The NRCS Program Manager or the CO will provide the Surveyor with a deed and location map or aerial photograph of the proposed easement area. The map will include the area to be surveyed, the ingress/egress route(s) or point of access and any other descriptive information as may be available.

Before fieldwork for surveying begins, the Surveyor shall notify the DC and the landowner the date and time for conducting the survey. Notification shall be a minimum of 72 hours prior to beginning work. If the work is not stated on the planned date, the surveyor shall notify the DC and landowner of the revised date and time that work will begin.

4. SURVEY AREA – Preliminary Survey The area that is surveyed will be marked by wooden stakes or flags. Only boundary angle points should be staked or flagged. For identification purposes, angle points are to be identified by number on the photograph and on the corresponding wooden stakes or flags.

Any significant (more than 5 percent) variation in the acres surveyed should be reported to the contracting officer’s representative (COR) immediately. The surveyor will not modify the easement area surveyed at the direction of the landowner. The boundary of the easement area must not be changed from what is indicated. Only the NRCS Contracting Office may authorize a modification to the easement area boundary. Any questions regarding the easement area should be directed to the Contracting Officer. The Contracting Office may appoint an official Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) to represent them in the field.

The surveyor shall locate the boundary angle points and record the description using bearings and distances as referenced to the National Spatial Reference System. The boundary survey shall be a complete traverse of the area tied to a corner of a Public Land Survey or a corner of a recorded property. A latitude and longitude coordinate shall be collected for each of the points using North American Datum 1983 (NAD 83) with a ± meter accuracy.

The COR will meet with the landowner to verify that the preliminary survey area represents the final easement area to be conveyed. The COR will notify the Surveyor if any revisions or modifications are required before a final plat is prepared and monuments are set.

5. SURVEY AREA – Final Survey Monuments and witness posts with signs shall be installed by the Surveyor at the time the survey is completed and prior to delivery of the final plat of the survey and legal description.

Monuments and witness posts with signs shall be installed at each corner, angle point, road crossing, intersection of property lines and approximately every 500 feet along a tangent.

All monuments must be thoroughly described and specifically identified as set or found, whenever shown on maps or referred to in documents prepared by the Surveyor.

Descriptions of monuments must be sufficient detail to readily facilitate future recovery by other Surveyors and to enable positive identification.

An acceptable monument will be a 5/8” steel rebar rod. The minimum length for the monument will be 24 inches long. The monument shall be driven just below the ground surface.

Witness posts shall be a steel “U” channel post at least seventy‐eight (78) inches in length and have a minimum weight of 1.25 lbs per foot. NRCS will provide the posts and signs.

The Surveyor will be required to pick up the signs at a location designated by NRCS. The Surveyor is required to attach a NRCS boundary sign to the top of each witness post using a galvanized nut and bolt. A wire attachment is not acceptable.

Upon completion of monumentation, the Contractor will contact the designated COR to certify the work has been completed in accordance with the NRCS Statement of Work. This certification will be made prior to any reimbursement to the Contractor.

Some easement boundaries may be a river, creek, bayou or lake. In those cases, the easement boundary will be determined on a case by case basis. An on‐site clarification of this boundary shall be determined by the surveyor, COR and landowner. A description point shall be included for the boundary intersection points. An offset point may need to be established on each boundary line intersecting river, creek, bayou or lake boundary. The offset point shall have a permanent marker. Whereas the river, creek, bayou or lake boundary intersection point may not. The offset and the permanent markers allow for a visual marker on the ground for use in maintaining the boundary integrity. Visibility and potential stream encroachment shall be factors in locating the offset. The offset distance shall be in whole feet.

Excluded areas within the main boundary area shall be surveyed as described above. All private/public roads (and associated roadway easement) should be excluded from the main boundary area. The net easement area shall be reported by the surveyor and computed by subtracting the excluded areas from the main boundary area. The net easement area shall be computed to the nearest tenth of an acre.

The boundary description shall include a delineated route of ingress/egress. The ingress/egress route to the easement area will be described in the survey, shown on the survey plat, and recorded with the Warranty Easement Deed.

When the boundary survey is complete, the COR and the landowner will ensure that: (1) the area delineated with permanent markers was the area that the landowner intended to place under easement and (2) permanent markers have been installed as required. If a discrepancy is identified, the surveyor will be required to meet the COR and landowner to reconcile the difference.

6. PRESENTATION OF SURVEY

The Surveyor shall prepare an appropriately scaled drawing of the survey. The Surveyor shall provide five large (22” x 34” or 18” x 24”) original and five smaller (11 x 17) originals of the survey plat (and attachments which include the legal description and access description) to the COR. The Surveyor is not to provide a copy of the final plat to the landowner without the approval of the contracting officer.

The survey drawing shall, at a minimum, include the following items:

The Surveyor’s seal shall be affixed to the drawings, and shall be signed and dated by the surveyor in blue ink across the seal;

Latitude and longitude for the point of beginning;

The recorded description of the property or the reference to the source of the recorded description of the property on which the easement is located;

The survey description of the easement area as Attachment A to the survey;

The survey description of the route of ingress/egress to the subject property as Attachment B to the survey as shown on the survey plate;

North arrow;

Scale

Bearings, azimuth or angles, and the distances or all courses;

The central angel, length of curve and radius and the length and bearing of chord from the beginning to the end of curve for each common boundary line or individual boundary line;

Basis of bearings and azimuth;

Monuments identified as set or found along with a description of the monument;

Area of the surveyed easement;

Observed evidence of possession or use by others in the parcel or across any perimeter lines of the property;

Sufficient data to indicate the theory of location applied in formulating the opinions as to the probable location of the boundaries and corners of the property;

Name, registration number, address and phone number of the Surveyor;

Client name;

Date survey completed;

NRCS easement contract number in the legend/title block of the survey plat as follows: 86‐33A7‐09‐02;

NRCS Property application number;

Certification‐ The following statement must be included on each survey;

“THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT THIS SURVEY, DONE BY THE UNDERSIGNED, WAS

DONE ON THE GROUND IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE MOST RECENT

MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR PROPERTY BOUNDARY SURVEYS‐ AS SET FORTH

BY THE (insert name of state agency responsible for licensing surveyors). THE

ACCURACY AND POSITION TOLERANCE ARE ALSO IN ACCORDANCE WITH

RURAL SURVEYS.

The following shall be included in the legal description (as Attachment A to the survey plat) of the property:

A clear statement of the relationship between the described property and the survey control or the basis of the unique location;

The basis of bearings when bearings are used;

Metes and bounds shall include bearings or angles and distances in order to allow for the computation and mathematical closure;

Citations to the recording information or other identifying documentation for any maps, plats or other documents referenced;

Detailed description of any natural or artificial monument referenced;

Total acreage in easement area.

7. DELIVERABLES

Preliminary Submittal: Prior to submitting the final survey, the Surveyor shall submit one copy of a preliminary plat and legal description to the COR for review. The preliminary survey shall be of sufficient details with appropriate field markings or flagging for a field review of the work by the landowner and COR. Within ten (10) calendar days, the COR will return the preliminary plat and legal description for any necessary revisions and/or instruct the Surveyor to provide final submittals.

Final Submittal: Survey contractor will deliver to the Contracting Officer within 45 days of issuance of the task order the following:

Five Original completed survey (22” x 34” or 18” x 24”) with required seal and signature.

Five smaller signed originals (11” x 17”) or survey plat for completed survey.

One electronic (digital) copy of the easement survey – The contractor shall provide a CD or DVD containing the digital files in .dwg format compatible with AutoCad 2014.

The .dwg file will be referenced to the appropriate State Plane Coordinate System, North American Datum 1983, local zone, U.S. Survey Feet and basis of bearing to grid north

The perimeter of the easement should be attributed as a separate and extractable polyline layer or polygon feature component of the drawing for conversion to a geographic information system (GIS).

The electronic copy of the easement survey shall include:

Documentation regarding registration of the survey to a standard coordinate system based on measurements referenced to the National Spatial Reference System infrastructure with a minimum of two (2) tie points to the United State Public Land Survey System within the parcel’s section.

Documentation identifying which coordinate system is used (for example:

MO Coordinate System of 1983, West Zone, NAD 83 horizontal datum, survey units in U.S. Survey Foot).

All polygons should be labeled as indicated below:

Each polygon should contain four attributes o NRCS assigned agreement number o Easement Acres (value to the tenth of an acre) o The length of the contract in years o The method of data capture

Each polygon should have the following Metadata:

o Date generated o GIS specialist contact information o Software and version used to generate file o Brief description of process used to generate files

Format. Provide ESRI ARC Info export/Info export (.e00) or shapefile (.shp, .dbf, .shx)

Projection must be clearly defined. If not geographic projection, the following is required:

o Projection (NAD 83) o Units o Datum o Spheroid o Xshift o Yshift o Central meridian o 1st standard parallel o 2nd standard parallel o Latitude of projection o False easting o False northing

Geospatial/Data joining. Identify the data fields required to join the spatial data to the database.

When the final survey submittals are received, the COR will obtain the concurrence of the landowner and assure that:

a) The surveyed area is the area that the landowner intended to place under the easement.

b) The area surveyed is the area designated

c) Permanent markers and posts have been installed as required in Section

4.

8. CONFLICT OF INTEREST

A Surveyor will not survey a NRCS easement property for a spouse, child(ren), partner(s), or business associate(s), nor have a financial interest in the property to be covered by the proposed easement.

9. NON‐DISCLOSURE

Work performance required by this SOW will involve access to potentially sensitive information about governmental and landowner issues. All Contractor personnel must comply with the terms of AGAR 452.224‐70, Confidentiality of Information, as well as provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. 552a. Additionally, the Contractor’s employees shall comply with privacy of personal information relating to Natural Resources

Conservation Service programs in accordance with Section 1244 Title II of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (PI 1078‐171).

10. CIVIL RIGHTS AND PROGRAM DELIVERY

The Contractor will ensure that personnel prohibit discrimination in all aspects of programs and activities related to the Contract on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family status.