Alaska Administrative Code › Title 11 - Natural Resources › Part 6 - Lands › Chapter 53 - Records, Surveys, and Platting › Article 6 - General Provisions › 11 AAC 53.900 - Definitions

Current through May 31, 2024
Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, in this
					 chapter
(1) "adjacent" means near but
				  not necessarily touching;
(2)
				  "aliquot parts" means land description within a rectangular survey system, as
				  established by the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land
				  Management, or the division, using the section method of describing parcels of
				  land by half sections, quarter sections, or any further division into equal
				  halves or quarters with no remainder;
(3) "arterial road" means a road that is used
				  primarily for through traffic, as opposed to access to adjacent land;
(4) "bearing object" means any object, other
				  than trees and monuments, that may be used by the state as a primary monument
				  accessory;
(5) "cadastral
				  rectangular survey" means a survey that defines the rectangular system of
				  surveys as accomplished by the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau
				  of Land Management, or the division; the survey may or may not be identical
				  with the protracted system of rectangular surveys, as administratively approved
				  on official protraction diagrams;
(6) "coastline" means the line of mean low
				  water along that portion of the coast that is in direct contact with the sea,
				  and the line marking the seaward limits of inland water;
(7) "coastal water" means water along the
				  coast of Alaska influenced by the tides;
(8) "course" means bearing and distances of a
				  boundary or survey line, expressed to the accuracy used in the class of survey
				  being conducted;
(9) "geodetic
				  coordinates" means the quantities of latitude and longitude that define the
				  position of a point on the surface of the earth, with respect to the reference
				  spheroid; they are also called "geographic coordinates" (based on Clark's
				  spheroid of 1866, as corrected for Alaska in 1927);
(10) "geodetic survey" means a survey in
				  which account is taken of the shape and size of the earth; geodetic surveys are
				  usually prescribed where the area or distances involved are so great that
				  results of desired accuracy and precision can be obtained only by the process
				  of geodetic surveying;
(11)
				  "horizontal control" means control with horizontal positions only; the
				  positions may be referenced to the geographic meridians or to other lines of
				  reference, such as plane coordinate axes;
(12) "land survey" or "survey" means the
				  process of determining boundaries and areas of land parcels on the
				  ground;
(13) "limits of error"
				  means the maximum permissible error, as expressed in a linear ratio
				  establishing the mathematical precision of distances and angles assigned to
				  control the accuracy standards of a survey;
(14) "mean high water" means the tidal datum
				  plane of the average of all the high tides, as would be established by the
				  National Geodetic Survey, at any place subject to tidal influence;
(15) "mean high water line" means the
				  intersection of the datum plane of mean high water with the shore;
(16) "mean low water" means the tidal datum
				  plane of the average of the low tides, as would be established by the National
				  Geodetic Survey, at any place subject to tidal influence;
(17) "mean lower low water" means the tidal
				  datum plane of the average of the lower of the two low waters of each day, as
				  would be established by the National Geodetic Survey, at any place subject to
				  tidal influence;
(18) "to meander"
				  a water body means to establish courses along the ordinary, or mean, high water
				  mark between land and water boundaries for segregation of upland and shoreland
				  underlying state navigable or public water;
(19) "metes and bounds survey" means a survey
				  that is accomplished from computed courses, such as shown on a preliminary or
				  final plat;
(20) "monument" means
				  the permanent, physical item placed or existing in the ground at a corner
				  position to define and mark the boundaries of a parcel of land;
(21) "navigable water" has the same meaning
				  as in AS
				  38.05.365(22);
(22) "offshore" means submerged land lying
				  seaward from the line of mean low tide;
(23) "ordinary high water mark" means the
				  mark along the bank or shore up to which the presence and action of the
				  nontidal water are so common and usual, and so long continued in all ordinary
				  years, as to leave a natural line impressed on the bank or shore and indicated
				  by erosion, shelving, changes in soil characteristics, destruction of
				  terrestrial vegetation, or other distinctive physical
				  characteristics;
(24) "paper plat"
				  means essentially the same as an actual survey plat, except that the pertinent
				  data and courses are derived from a compilation of official survey data and no
				  actual field survey was accomplished;
(25) "public access easement" means an
				  easement that is identified to allow access by the public, including access to
				  private property by the owners of that private property and their invitees, and
				  that may be used for any mode of transportation commonly employed for access
				  purposes, subject to any restrictions noted on the plat, deed, or other legally
				  applicable document;
(26) "public
				  water" has the same meaning as in
				  AS
				  38.05.365(23);
(27) "quarter-quarter section" means
				  one-sixteenth of a normal section, formed by dividing a quarter section into
				  four parts by lines connecting the midpoints of opposite sides, and containing
				  40 acres, more or less;
(28)
				  "rectangular survey system" means a system of surveys in which an area is
				  divided by a base line intersected at right angles by a principal meridian,
				  with the intersection termed the initial point from which the partitions are
				  subdivided into equal size townships, each containing 36 sections of
				  land;
(29) Repealed
				  7/5/2001.
(30) "residential road"
				  means a road that is primarily for traffic within a residential
				  subdivision;
(31) "state plane
				  coordinates" means the plane rectangular coordinate system established by the
				  United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (now National Geodetic Survey) for use
				  in defining positions of geodetic stations in terms of plane rectangular (X and
				  Y) coordinates;
(32) "shoreland"
				  means land belonging to the state that is covered by tidal or nontidal water
				  that is navigable or nonnavigable under the laws of the United States, or the
				  state, up to the mean or ordinary high water mark, and as may be modified by
				  accretion, erosion, or reliction;
(33) "subdivision" has the same meaning as in
				  AS
				  40.15.900;
(34) "submerged lands" has the same meaning
				  as in AS
				  38.05.365(17);
(35) "supplemental cadastral survey" means
				  the establishment of additional cadastral survey boundaries within an existing
				  cadastral survey;
(36) "survey
				  plat" means a diagram drawn to scale, showing all essential data and courses
				  pertaining to the boundaries and subdivision of a tract of land, as determined
				  by survey or protraction;
(37)
				  "surveyor," "registered surveyor," or "professional land surveyor" means a
				  person who has been registered by the State of Alaska Board of Registration for
				  Architects, Engineers and Land Surveyors to currently practice land surveying
				  in Alaska in conformance with AS 08.48;
(38) "tideland" means the same thing as
				  "tidelands" as defined in
				  AS
				  38.05.365(18);
(39) "tract" means a lot or parcel of land,
				  and especially an odd-sized parcel within a section, such as on the west side
				  of the west tier of sections in a township;
(40) "true bearing" means the direction of
				  one point or object, with respect to another, where the direction of the line
				  is expressed by the acute horizontal angle with respect to the celestial
				  meridian; the reference direction may be north or south with reference to the
				  true geodetic meridian; typical bearings are N. 6º 10'15" W. & S.
				  17º 10'30" E.;
(41) "vertical
				  control" means the measurements taken by surveying methods for the
				  determination of elevation only with respect to an imaginary level surface,
				  usually mean sea level;
(42)
				  "amended plat" means a plat of record that is corrected and re-recorded to
				  correct a technical error that does not affect acreage, property lines, or
				  valid existing rights;
(43) "block"
				  means a group of lots existing within well-defined and fixed boundaries,
				  usually being an area surrounded by streets or by physical barriers, and having
				  an assigned number or letter;
(44)
				  "commissioner" means the commissioner of natural resources;
(45) "controlling exterior corner" means a
				  corner on the exterior boundary of a subdivision that is an angle point or a
				  point of curvature;
(46) "dedicate"
				  means to grant or convey into public ownership for public use; "dedicate"
				  includes the designation of a public area on a plat;
(47) "department" means the Department of
				  Natural Resources;
(48) "lot" means
				  the smallest portion of a subdivision, constituting a single parcel, division,
				  or piece of land intended for sale or dedication as a single unit;
(49) "lot summary" means a document showing
				  bearings and distances used to compute parcel area and showing
				  closure;
(50) "meander line" means
				  the traverse run at the line of mean high water or ordinary high water of a
				  permanent natural body of water, surveyed not as a boundary, but to define
				  generally the sinuosities of the bank or shoreline and to determine the
				  approximate quantity of land remaining after segregation of the water
				  area;
(51) "parent parcel" means
				  the original tract from which a parcel is being created by
				  subdivision;
(52) "replat" means
				  the redelineation of one or more existing lots, blocks, tracts, or parcels of a
				  previously recorded subdivision or other survey that involves the change of
				  property lines or, in the case of a vacation, the altering or eliminating of
				  dedicated streets, easements, or public areas.
As of Register 168 (January 2004) the regulations
						attorney made technical revisions under
						AS
						44.62.125(b) (6), to
						11 AAC 53.900.
As of Register 173 (April 2005), the regulations attorney
						made a technical revision under
						AS
						44.62.125(b)(6), to
						11 AAC 53.900.
Authority:
AS
						38.04.045
AS 38.05.020
AS 38.05.035
AS 40.15.330
AS
						40.15.370