An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Land Surveyors
Maine Legislature, Session 125, LD 1024
Committee: Transportation
Sponsors: McCABE, MARTIN, CAREY, CURTIS, EVES, HARVELL, O'BRIEN, PILON
Amends: 33 MRSA §801, 33 MRSA §802, 33 MRSA §803, 33 MRSA §803-A, 33 MRSA §804, 33 MRSA §805, 33 MRSA §807, 33 MRSA §807-A

Legislative Document 
No. 1024 
H.P. 760 
House of Representatives, March 10, 2011 
An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Land Surveyors 
Reference to the Committee on Transportation suggested and ordered printed. 
HEATHER J.R. PRIEST 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative McCABE of Skowhegan. 
Cosponsored by Senator MARTIN of Kennebec and 
Representatives: CAREY of Lewiston, CURTIS of Madison, EVES of North Berwick, 
HARVELL of Farmington, O'BRIEN of Lincolnville, PILON of Saco. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  33 MRSA §801, as amended by PL 1999, c. 689, §1 and affected by §7, is 
further amended to read: 
§801.  Definition 
The systems of plan coordinates that have been established by the National Ocean 
Survey and the National Geodetic Survey or its successors for defining and stating the 
geographic positions of locations of points on the surface of the earth within the State are 
hereafter to be known and designated as the Maine Coordinate System of 1927, the 
Maine Coordinate System of 1983 and, the Maine Coordinate System of 2000 and the 
Maine Coordinate System of 2012. 
For the purpose of the use of these systems the State is divided into a "West Zone," a 
"Central Zone" and an "East Zone" and a "West Zone" as follows. 
1.  West Zone.  The West Zone is the area bounded by the following: Beginning at 
the point determined by the intersection of the Maine State line and the County Line 
between Aroostook and Somerset Counties, thence following the Somerset County line 
Easterly to the Northwest corner of the Somerset and Piscataquis county line, thence 
Southerly along this county line to the northeast corner of the Athens town line, thence 
westerly along the town line between Brighton Plantation and Athens to the westerly 
corner of Athens, and continuing southerly to the southwest corner of the town of Athens 
where it meets the Cornville town line, thence westerly along the Cornville - Solon town 
line to the intersection of the Cornville - Madison town line, thence southerly and 
westerly following the Madison town line to the intersection of the Norridgewock - 
Skowhegan town line, thence southerly along the Skowhegan town line to the Fairfield 
town line, thence easterly along the Fairfield town line to the Clinton town line (being 
determined by the Kennebec River), thence southerly along the Kennebec River to the 
Augusta city line, thence easterly along the city line to the Windsor town line, thence 
southerly along the Augusta - Windsor town line to the northwest corner of the Lincoln 
County line, thence southerly along the westerly Lincoln county line to the boundary of 
the State of Maine as determined by Maritime law, thence following the State boundary 
on the westerly side of the state to the point of beginning. 
2.  Central Zone.  The Central Zone is the area bounded by the following: Beginning 
at the point determined by the intersection of the Maine State line and the County Line 
between Aroostook and Somerset Counties, thence northeasterly along the state line to 
the intersection of the Fort Kent - Frenchville town line, thence southerly along this town 
line to the intersection with the New Canada Plantation - T17 R5 WELS town line, thence 
continuing southerly along town lines to the northeast corner of  Penobscot County, 
thence continuing southerly along the Penobscot County line to the intersection of the 
Woodville - Mattawamkeag town line (being determined by the Penobscot River), thence 
along the Penobscot River to the Enfield - Lincoln town line, thence southeasterly along 
the Enfield - Lincoln town line and the Enfield - Lowell town line to the Passadumkeag - 
Edinburg town line, thence south-southeasterly along town lines to the intersection of the 
Hancock County line, thence southerly along the county line to the intersection of the 
Otis - Mariaville town line, thence southerly along the Otis - Mariaville town line to the 
Ellsworth city line, thence southerly along the Ellsworth city line to the intersection of the 
Surry - Trenton town line, thence southerly along the easterly town lines of Surry, Blue 
Hill, Brooklin, Deer Isle, and Stonington to the Knox County line, thence following the 
Knox County line to the boundary of the State of Maine as determined by Maritime law, 
thence following the State boundary westerly to the intersection of the Sagadahoc - 
Lincoln county line, thence northerly along the easterly boundary of the Maine 2000 
West Zone, as defined, to the point of beginning. 
3.  East Zone.  The East Zone is the area bounded by the following: Beginning at the 
point determined by the intersection of the Maine State line and the Fort Kent - 
Frenchville town line, thence continuing easterly and then southerly along the state line to 
the boundary of the State of Maine as determined by Maritime law, thence following the 
State boundary westerly to the intersection of the Knox and Hancock County line, thence 
northerly along the easterly boundary of the Maine 2000 Central Zone, as defined, to the 
point of beginning. 
The area now included in the following counties constitutes the East Zone:  
Aroostook, Hancock, Knox, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Waldo and Washington. 
The area now included in the following counties constitutes the West Zone:  
Androscoggin, Cumberland, Franklin, Kennebec, Lincoln, Oxford, Sagadahoc, Somerset 
and York. 
Sec. 2.  33 MRSA §802, as amended by PL 1999, c. 689, §1 and affected by §7, is 
further amended to read: 
§802.  East and West Zones 
As established for use in the East Zone, the Maine Coordinate System of 1927, the 
Maine Coordinate System of 1983 or, the Maine Coordinate System of 2000 or the Maine 
Coordinate System of 2012 must be named, and in any land description in which it is 
used, it must be designated the "Maine Coordinate System of 1927 East Zone," "Maine 
Coordinate System of 1983 East Zone," or "Maine Coordinate System of 2000 East 
Zone" or "Maine Coordinate System 2012 East Zone." 
As established for use in the Central Zone, the Maine Coordinate System of 2000 
must be named and, in any land description in which it is used, it must be designated the 
"Maine Coordinate System of 2000 Central Zone." 
As established for use in the West Zone, the Maine Coordinate System of 1927, the 
Maine Coordinate System of 1983 or, the Maine Coordinate System of 2000 or the Maine 
Coordinate System of 2012 must be named and, in any land description in which it is 
used, it must be designated the "Maine Coordinate System of 1927 West Zone," "Maine 
Coordinate System of 1983 West Zone," or "Maine Coordinate System of 2000 West 
Zone" or Maine Coordinate System of 2012 West Zone." 
Sec. 3.  33 MRSA §803, as amended by PL 1999, c. 689, §1 and affected by §7, is 
further amended to read: 
§803.  Plane coordinates of a point 
The plane coordinate values for a point on the earth's surface, used to express the 
geographic position or location of such point in the appropriate zone of this system, must 
consist of 2 distances in expressed United States Survey feet and decimals of a foot when 
using the Maine Coordinate System of 1927 and expressed in meters and decimals of a 
meter when using the Maine Coordinate System of 1983 or, the Maine Coordinate 
System of 2000 or the Maine Coordinate System of 2012. One of these distances, to be 
known as the "x-coordinate," or "Easting Coordinate," gives the position in an east-and-
west direction; the other, to be known as the "y-coordinate," or "Northing Coordinate," 
gives the position in a north-and-south direction. These coordinates must be made to 
depend upon and conform to plane rectangular coordinate values for the monumented 
points of the North American Horizontal Geodetic Control Network as published by the 
National Ocean Survey and the National Geodetic Survey, or its successors, and whose 
plane coordinates have been computed on the systems defined in this chapter. Any such 
station may be used for establishing a survey connection to any of the Maine Coordinate 
Systems. 
Sec. 4.  33 MRSA §803-A, 2nd ¶, as amended by PL 1999, c. 689, §2 and 
affected by §7, is further amended to read: 
Nothing contained in this chapter requires a purchaser or mortgagee of real property 
to rely wholly on a land description, any part of which depends exclusively upon any of 
the either Maine Coordinate Systems System. 
Sec. 5.  33 MRSA §804, as amended by PL 1999, c. 689, §3 and affected by §7, is 
further amended to read: 
§804.  Land extending from one zone to another 
When any tract of land to be defined by a single description extends from one into 
another the other of the above coordinate zones, the positions of all points on its 
boundaries may be referred to any either of the 2 zones crossed, the zone that is used 
being specifically named in the description. 
Sec. 6.  33 MRSA §805, sub-§4 is enacted to read: 
4.  Maine Coordinate System of 2012.  For purposes of more precisely defining the 
Maine Coordinate System of 2012, the following definition by the National Ocean 
Survey and the National Geodetic Survey is adopted. 
The "Maine Coordinate System of 2012 East Zone" is a transverse Mercator projection of 
the North American Datum of 2012, having a central meridian 68`30' west of Greenwich 
on which meridian the scale is set one part in 10,000 too small.  The origin of coordinates 
is at the intersection of the meridian 68`30' west of Greenwich and the parallel 43`40' 
north latitude.  This origin is given the coordinates: x = 300,000 meters and y = 0 meters. 
The "Maine Coordinate System of 2012 West Zone" is a transverse Mercator projection 
of the North American Datum of 2012, having a central meridian 70`10' west of 
Greenwich on which meridian the scale is set one part in 30,000 too small.  The origin of 
coordinates is at the intersection of the meridian 70`10' west of Greenwich and the 
parallel 42`50' north latitude.  This origin is given the coordinates: x = 900,000 meters 
and y = 0 meters. 
Sec. 7.  33 MRSA §807, as amended by PL 1999, c. 689, §5 and affected by §7, is 
further amended to read: 
§807.  Use of terms 
The use of the "Maine Coordinate System of 1927 East Zone," "Maine Coordinate 
System of 1983 East Zone," "Maine Coordinate System of 1927 West Zone," "Maine 
Coordinate System of 1983 West Zone," "Maine Coordinate System of 2000 West Zone," 
"Maine Coordinate System of 2000 Central Zone," or "Maine Coordinate System of 2000 
East Zone," "Maine Coordinate System of 2012 East Zone" or "Maine Coordinate System 
of 2012 West Zone" on any map, report of survey, or other document is limited to 
coordinates based on the Maine Coordinate Systems as defined in this chapter. 
Sec. 8.  33 MRSA §807-A, as repealed and replaced by PL 1999, c. 689, §6 and 
affected by §7, is repealed and the following enacted in its place: 
§807-A.  Effective date 
The Maine Coordinate System of 2012 is the system of plan coordinates for work 
beginning after December 31, 2012 that is provided to or by state agencies. 
Sec. 9.  Effective date.  This Act takes effect December 31, 2012. 
SUMMARY 
This bill restores the 2-zone coordinate system for land surveyors.