This document discusses the land records review process in one county to identify common mistakes. It describes how the county assistant surveyor reviews Certified Survey Maps (CSMs), subdivision plats, and condominium plats submitted for recording, though not plats of survey. The review aims to ensure compliance with regulations and address issues like accurate parcel boundaries, public safety, and environmental concerns before updating tax and land records. The surveyor drafts parcel boundaries in CAD software and checks for errors in distances, areas, and legal descriptions compared to the submitted survey. Comments are provided to the applicant and other county departments for revision before recording.

1. SURVEYING AND LAND
RECORDS MANAGEMENT:
A LIST OF THE MOST
COMMON MISTAKES IN
LAND RECORDS AND AN
ANALYSIS OF HOW THEY
OCCUR

2. One county’s review process and
how it helps identify and remedy
the most common mistakes in
Land Records.

3. Reviews of:
CSM’s
Condo Plats
Subdivision Plats

4. No review of
Plats of Survey
-By volume, top land survey info
submitted to Counties.

5. 1. Eau Claire County Assistant Surveyor
A. Part of Department of Planning and
Development
B. Land information division
C. BS deg. in Geography, Associates deg. in Land
Surveying
D. Registered Land Surveyor
E. Surveying for 16 years
F. Consulting engineering firm in SE WI prior to
ECC
G. Reviewing Surveys for ECC since 1999.

6. 2. What I do.
A. Field verification of PLSS corner monuments –
Explanation: In correct spot, In good condition, can be found and
used by private surveyors. Backed by paper evidence housed in
the ECC Surveyor’s Office
B. Filing of surveys performed in county –explanation
Surveys are to be housed, filed, indexed in our office
C. Review of CSM’s submitted – Main topic, upon
which the rest follows.

7. 1. What I’m going to cover
A. Staff involved
B. Timeline
C. Typical workflow from submission to recording
D. Why we do this
E. How it’s done

8. 2. What I’m NOT going to cover
A. What you may do in your county
B. How you should review in your county
C. Rants and raves about who’s doing a bad job

9. *There are municipalities that examine divisions for their own criteria, city
extraterritorial, towns. Committees, (planning) i.e. non-EC staff in certain
cases.
III. Process
1. Eau Claire County Departments/Staff
involved and GENERAL description of their
involvement* -only in non-incorporated areas.
(City of EC, Altoona, not under review area)

10. A. Health Department –
determines suitability of site for a
sanitary system and if any known
groundwater issues exist.

11. B. Highway Department –if
access is to be obtained to a
County Highway – Address
visibility/traffic flow concerns.

12. C. Land Conservation Division –
examines erosion and
environmentally sensitive areas
on site.

13. D. Zoning Administrator -interprets
county code as it applies to
proposed lot
division/configuration. Also, acts
as coordinator for the review
process.

14. E. Real Property Lister –
generates new parcel ID numbers
for lots in proposed division.

15. F. Planner –assigns address
range to any newly created
street segments

16. G. Land information technician
–verifies owner of record and
deed information

17. H. Surveyor –will detail in following

18. I. GIS Specialist (largely
informational only)

19. 4. Why we do this:
A. Ensure compliance with WI statutes
236.34, WI Admin Code AE-7 and County
regulations
B. Ensure that parcel can be used as
intended by buyer
C. Address public safety issues
D. Address Environmental issues
E. Update tax and parcel records

20. 5. How we do it (Survey Staff)
A. Draft parcel perimeter from legal
description
1. Using legal description only we will
draft the boundary using COGO within AutoCAD
Land Development Desktop

21. 2. Once completed, we check
closure by snapping the end of the
last line drawn to the beginning of
the first line of the parcel described.

22. 3. Check overall area

23. 4. Label the drawn exterior lot lines with
bearings and distances and verify that these
agree with what is shown

24. 5. Break exterior lines into segments as needed
and verify that the segment lengths add up to the
overall length (no rounding errors from CAD)

25. B. Using dimensions given on
survey, create and verify interior lot or
right-of-way lines

26. 1. Verify that these interior lines don’t
create excessive slivers or gaps

27. 2. Check individual lot areas

28. 3. Break interior lines
into segments as needed
and verify that the segment
lengths add up to the overall
length (no rounding errors
from CAD)

29. 4. Check all curve
information as required

30. C. Fit into pertinent
Section/Quarter Section

31. 1. Rotate as needed

32. 2. Verify Section corners
used and distances between
them are correct

33. 3. Verify that forties noted fall in
the correct ¼-¼ section

34. D. Go through common
revisions found list (Handout)

35. E. Complete CSM Checklist (Handout)

36. F. Forward comments to Zoning
Administrator

37. The Zoning Administrator then forwards those
comments/revision notes to the contact individual
and once issues are addressed, they will then submit
a recordable CSM, our department director will sign it
and the Register of Deeds records said CSM/Plat.

42. Questions?