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Davis County adopts ordinance to protect public land survey monuments, authorizes fees and penalties
Summary
The Davis County Commission adopted an ordinance creating protections, fees and penalties for public land survey corner monuments and established a new county code chapter (14.22) to implement the changes.
The Davis County Commission adopted an ordinance establishing protections and a fee schedule for public land survey corners and monuments.
Chris Preston of the county attorney’s office presented the ordinance on behalf of the surveyor’s office. Preston said the public land survey system’s corner monuments are critical to property deeds and boundary descriptions across the valley and that development and construction sometimes move or destroy those monuments. He described a state statute that authorizes counties to adopt ordinances creating a public land corner preservation fund and to require plan review and fees for work near monuments.
The ordinance does two things: it creates a new county code chapter (14.22) titled Land Survey and Land Survey Monuments that authorizes the surveyor’s office to adopt fees and to require plan review for work within 30 feet of a monument; and it amends the county fee schedule (title 2.42.090) to add the specific fees and penalties associated with monument protection. Preston said a previously listed $40 plat-map filing fee is being moved to the updated fee schedule location, not eliminated. The agenda item included a list of new penalties for disturbing or failing to show monuments on plans; specific penalty amounts were not read into the record during the presentation.
Commissioners asked questions, and the motion to approve item 14 was made, seconded and carried with recorded “Aye” votes. County staff said the ordinance is modeled on provisions adopted by neighboring counties and that it gives the surveyor a toolset to monitor, require remediation by responsible parties and collect fees into a preservation fund.
The ordinance record shows the county will require plan submissions and can assess fees and penalties for work done within 30 feet of public land survey monuments; staff did not read exact penalty dollar amounts during the meeting and said fees will be set by the surveyor’s office under the code change.
