Virginia Administrative Code › Title 18 - PROFESSIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING › Agency 10 - BOARD FOR ARCHITECTS, PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS, LAND SURVEYORS, CERTIFIED INTERIOR DESIGNERS AND LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS › Chapter 20 - BOARD FOR ARCHITECTS, PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS, LAND SURVEYORS, CERTIFIED INTERIOR DESIGNERS AND LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT REGULATIONS › Part V - Qualifications for Licensing and Standards of Procedure for Land Surveyors › Section 18VAC10-20-370 - Minimum standards and procedures for land boundary surveying practice

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
A. The minimum
				  standards and procedures set forth in this section are to be used for land
				  boundary surveys performed in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The application of
				  the professional's seal, signature, and date as required by these regulations
				  shall be evidence that the land boundary survey is correct to the best of the
				  professional's knowledge, information, and belief and complies with the minimum
				  standards and procedures set forth in this chapter.
B. Research procedure. The professional shall
				  search the land records for the proper description of the land to be surveyed
				  and obtain the description of adjoining land as it pertains to the common
				  boundaries. The professional shall have the additional responsibility to
				  utilize such other available data pertinent to the survey being performed from
				  any other known sources. Evidence found from all known sources, including
				  evidence found in the field, shall be carefully compared in order to aid in the
				  establishment of the correct boundaries of the land being surveyed. The
				  professional shall clearly identify on the plats, maps, and reports
				  inconsistencies found in the research of common boundaries between the land
				  being surveyed and the adjoining land. It is not the intent of this regulation
				  to require the professional to research the question of title or encumbrances
				  on the land involved.
C. Minimum
				  field procedures.
1. Angular measurement.
				  Angle measurements made for traverse or land boundary survey lines will be made
				  by using a properly adjusted transit-type instrument that allows a direct
				  reading to a minimum accuracy of 20 seconds of arc or equivalent. The number of
				  angles turned at a given station or corner will be the number that, in the
				  judgment of the professional, can be used to substantiate the average true
				  angle considering the condition of the instrument being used and the existing
				  field conditions.
2. Linear
				  measurement. Distance measurement for the lines of traverse or lines of the
				  land boundary survey shall be made (i) with metal tapes that have been checked
				  and are properly calibrated as to incremental distances or (ii) with properly
				  calibrated electronic distance measuring equipment following instructions and
				  procedures established by the manufacturer of such equipment. All linear
				  measurements shall be reduced to the horizontal plane, and other necessary
				  corrections shall be performed before using such linear measurements for
				  computing purposes.
3. Field
				  traverse and land boundary closure and accuracy standards. For a land boundary
				  survey located in a rural area, the maximum permissible error of closure for a
				  field traverse shall be one part in 10,000 (1/10,000). The attendant angular
				  closure shall be that which will sustain the one part in 10,000 (1/10,000)
				  maximum error of closure. For a land boundary survey located in an urban area,
				  the maximum permissible error of closure for a traverse shall be one part in
				  20,000 (1/20,000). The attendant angular closure shall be that which will
				  sustain the one part in 20,000 (1/20,000) maximum error of closure.
The maximum permissible positional uncertainty based on the
					 95% confidence level of any independent boundary corner or independent point
					 located on a boundary that has been established by utilizing global positioning
					 systems shall not exceed the positional tolerance of 0.07 feet (or 20 mm + 50
					 ppm).
4. Monumentation. As a
				  requisite for completion of the work product, each land boundary survey of a
				  tract or parcel of land shall be monumented with objects made of permanent
				  material at all corners and changes of direction on the land boundary with the
				  exceptions of meanders, such as meanders of streams, tidelands, lakes, swamps
				  and prescriptive rights-of-way, and each such monument, other than a natural
				  monument, shall, when physically feasible, be identified by a temporary witness
				  marker. Where it is not physically feasible to set actual corners, appropriate
				  reference monuments shall be set, preferably on line, and the location of each
				  shall be shown on the plat or map of the land boundary.
All boundaries, both exterior and interior, of the original
					 survey for any division or partition of land shall be monumented in accordance
					 with the provisions of this subdivision, when such monumentation is not
					 otherwise regulated by the provisions of a local subdivision ordinance.
5. For land boundary surveys
				  providing for a division when only the division, in lieu of the entire parcel,
				  is being surveyed, any new corners established along existing property lines
				  shall require that those existing property lines be established through their
				  entire length. This shall include the recovery or reestablishment of the
				  existing corners for each end of the existing property lines.