Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 38, September 20, 2024
The minimum standards of practice set forth in this Section are
intended to provide protection for the public by insuring that surveying and
mapping services defined in this Section are completed in accordance with
prevailing professional practices and current technological methods, and to
provide a means by which professional performance of the individual
practitioner can be assessed. These standards are to be binding upon every
person and firm practicing land surveying in the State of Illinois, except
where differing federal, State or local laws, ordinances or rules may be more
stringent, or when special conditions exist that effectively prevent the survey
from meeting these minimum standards. When special conditions exist any
necessary deviations from the standards shall be noted on the plat or map. It
shall be a violation of this Part to use special conditions to circumvent the
intent and purpose of the minimum standards. Any of the professional services
set forth in this Section are greatly influenced by the evaluation of recorded
information and field observations, and all those services shall be
accomplished in compliance with these standards to ensure that they are
located, described and platted in a professional manner. All terms used in
these Minimum Standards of Practice shall be interpreted to agree with the
definitions of those terms in the most current publication of Black's Law
Dictionary, Definitions of Surveying and Associated Terms published by the
National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) and the American Society of
Civil Engineers (ASCE), and Glossary of the Mapping Sciences published by
American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS), NSPS and the
ASCE.
a) ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey
1) An ALTA/NSPS land title survey is a
specialized survey that meets the specific needs peculiar to title insurance
purposes, to enable title insurance companies to insure title to land without
exceptions as to survey matters.
2)
All land title surveys shall be subject to the "2021 Minimum Standard Detail
Requirements for ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys", published jointly by the
American Land Title Association (ALTA), 1828 L. St., N.W., Suite 705,
Washington, D.C. 20036 and the National Society of Professional Surveyors
(NSPS), 6 Montgomery Village Avenue, Suite #403, Gaithersburg MD 20879. This
incorporation does not include any later amendments or editions.
3) All ALTA/NSPS land title surveys are to be
performed to the current ALTA/NSPS Minimum Standard Detail Requirements. It is
incumbent upon the licensed professional land surveyor to discuss with the
client additional or optional requirements to be provided.
b) Boundary Survey
1) A boundary survey is a land survey that
requires study, investigation and evaluation of major factors affecting and
influencing the location of boundary lines and that culminates in the
deliberate location or relocation of the corners, perimeters, division lines or
boundaries of a certain lot, parcel or quantity of real estate, according to
the record title description of the parcel or parent tract, facts and evidence
found in the course of performing the research and fieldwork, and in accordance
with appropriate boundary law principles. The record title description should
be furnished by the client, unless otherwise jointly agreed upon by the client
and surveyor.
2) The purpose of a
boundary survey is to establish or retrace the boundary lines and corners of
the surveyed property, and to define and identify those lines so as to uniquely
locate each lot, parcel or other specific land area in relation to well
recognized and established points of reference, adjoining properties, and
rights of way.
3) When a client
desires only a portion of their property surveyed, and this portion can be
clearly isolated from the remainder of the property without affecting the
interests of adjoining owners, these rules shall apply to the survey of only
the desired portion.
4) A boundary
survey shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
A) Gathering and evaluating the best
available evidence indicating where the boundary lines being retraced have
become established on the ground.
B) Clear and legible field notes containing
all pertinent information, measurements and observations made in the course of
the field survey.
C) Unless
requested otherwise by the client or his/her agent, a plat of survey.
D) A legal description for any parcel
surveyed.
E) Monuments or witness
points shall be set for all accessible corners of the survey except when in the
opinion of the Professional Land Surveyor, corner monuments would be destroyed
by development, re-development construction, grading or utility construction.
In this case, monumentation may be delayed until construction or grading is
completed and must be in place within 12 months of the date of field work of
the last survey.
5)
Information Research Required. Sufficient information to perform the survey
shall be either furnished by the client and/or his/her agent or obtained by the
surveyor by agreement with the client. The following appropriate factors must
be evaluated by the surveyor:
A) A property
description describing the subject parcel. If, in the opinion of the surveyor,
the description furnished or obtained is insufficient to fully define the
extent or location of the parcel to be surveyed due to ambiguity or calls for
adjoining deeds, prior recorded survey plats, etc., it is the duty of the
client (unless agreed upon otherwise) to furnish the additional information
requested by the surveyor. This is not to be construed to indicate that the
surveyor has an obligation to research the title of record.
B) A reproduction of the recorded subdivision
plat that created the subject lot, block or parcel.
C) A reproduction of the Government Township
Plat and pertinent Monument Records if the survey is of a section or aliquot
part of a section.
D) Relevant data
provided by the client regarding special circumstances, such as unrecorded
easements, judgements or Court decrees that may influence the location of
boundaries of the survey.
E)
Except, however, if the documents identified in subsections (b)(5)(A) through
(D) are not provided to the surveyor, the surveyor shall as a minimum, consult
deeds and other documents, including those for adjacent parcels, in order to
assemble the best possible set of written evidence of every corner and line of
the property being surveyed.
6) Boundary Analysis and Resolution - the
boundary lines and corners of any property being surveyed shall be established
and/or retraced in accordance with appropriate boundary law principles governed
by the set of facts and evidence found in the course of performing the research
and fieldwork.
7) Positional
Accuracy - the relative positional accuracy for boundary surveys shall be in
accordance with the most current model standards for property surveys as
published by the National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS).
8) Monuments. Monuments set or called for,
whether artificial or natural, bear witness to the footsteps of a surveyor and
his/her professional opinion as to the proper marking of a desired position.
Monumentation for public land survey systems corners shall be in accordance
with the Land Survey Monuments Act [765 ILCS 220 ]. The following shall be
considered acceptable types of artificial monuments for all other corners:
A) Types
i)
Iron bars or rods shall be a minimum of 1/2" in diameter by 24" in length. Iron
pipes shall be a minimum of 1/2" in diameter by 24" in length, with a minimum
wall thickness of 1/8" and be detectable with conventional instruments for
finding ferrous or magnetic objects. Where rocky soils prevent specified
lengths, the bar, rod or pipe should be driven to refusal at depths where it
will remain stable.
ii) Concrete
monuments shall be a minimum size of 5" in diameter by 24" in length, or 4"
square by 24" in length, and shall have a precise corner mark and shall be
reinforced by at least a 1/4" re-bar or 1/2" or larger iron pipe.
iii) Stone monuments shall be a minimum size
of 4" square by 24" in length and shall have a precise corner mark.
iv) Commercial cast iron or aluminum survey
markers no less than 24" in length. Non-ferrous markers shall have ceramic
magnets attached to aid in recovery.
v) Other monuments, such as drill holes,
chiseled marks in stone, concrete or steel, punch marks, precast bronze discs,
nails or spikes, etc., shall be of sufficient size, diameter or depth to be
definitive, stable and readily identified as a survey marker. Objects upon
which the marks or markers are placed shall be of a stable and permanent
nature.
B) Requirements
i) When it is physically impossible or
impractical to set a monument at the corner, a witness corner or corners will
be set, or noted if existing witness corners are found. Witness corners shall
be referenced to the survey corner or survey lines.
ii) Monuments must be set to a sufficient
depth so as to retain a stable and distinctive location. Material and size for
monuments shall be chosen in regard to the terrain and situation that exists at
the site of the survey. All monuments shall be set vertically whenever
possible.
9)
Plats. On all boundary surveys the completed plat shall be drawn on a stable
and durable medium with a minimum size of 81/2" by 11" and shall contain the
following:
A) Firm name, address and
registration number.
B)
Professional land surveyor seal, signature, date of signing, and license
expiration date. The licensee may provide, at his or her sole discretion, an
original signature in the licensee's handwriting, a scanned copy of the
document bearing an original signature, or a signature generated by a
computer.
C) Client's
name.
D) North arrow.
E) Scale-written or graphic.
F) Date of completion of field
work.
G) Legal description of the
property.
H) Legend for all symbols
and abbreviations used on the plat.
I) Monuments or witness corners, whether set
or found, intended to represent or reference corners of the survey, shall be
shown and described as to size, shape and material, and their positions noted
in relation to the survey corners.
J) Sufficient angles, bearings or azimuths,
linear dimensions and curve data must be shown on the plat to provide a
mathematically closed figure for the exterior of the survey. Where record
angular dimensions, bearings or azimuths, linear dimensions or curve data
exist, such data shall be shown on the plat and distinguished from measured
dimensions or data. Area of the survey is to be shown on the face of the plat
unless otherwise requested by the client.
K) Where bearing, azimuth or coordinate
systems are used, the basis or proper names of the system shall be noted on the
plat.
L) If the survey is a parcel
in a recorded subdivision, any adjacent rights of way or easements and setback
lines shown on the recorded plat that affect the subject parcel shall be shown
and dimensioned.
M) The character
and location of evidence of possession or occupation along the perimeter of the
surveyed property and by adjoiners, observed in the process of conducting the
fieldwork.
N) Show visible evidence
of improvements, rights of way, easements, or use when requested by the
client.
O) Exculpatory statements
that attempt to restrict the uses of boundary surveys shall not be affixed to
any plat.
P) The following
statement shall be placed near the professional land surveyor seal and
signature: "This professional service conforms to the current Illinois minimum
standards for a boundary survey."
10) Field Procedures. All field work shall be
performed by a professional land surveyor or a person under his/her direct
control and supervision in accordance with accepted methods of surveying
theory, practice and procedures. It is the responsibility of the professional
land surveyor to ensure conformance with the following specific requirements:
A) All surveying instruments shall be kept in
proper adjustment and calibration.
B) All corners or monuments called for in the
information provided or obtained under subsection (b)(4) that affect the
location of the boundaries of the land to be surveyed shall be physically
searched for in a methodical and meticulous fashion. Each corner or monument
recovered shall be evaluated as to its agreement by description and location
with the information in subsection (b)(4).
C) Other evidence that could influence the
location of the lines or corners of the survey shall be located and
evaluated.
D) When the survey is of
an aliquot or divisional part of a larger tract, sufficient field work must be
performed to ensure that the existence of excess or deficiency, if any, in the
parent tract can be determined and distributed by the professional judgment of
the surveyor.
E) All field data,
including electronic field notes, shall be retained in a legible and orderly
fashion that will be understandable to other surveyors.
11) It shall be the responsibility of each
professional land surveyor to monitor his/her work and that of those working
under his/her supervision, so that the methods used to perform the survey and
produce the plat and/or report will be of such quality that the accuracy,
precision and positional tolerance of the final product delivered to his/her
client will equal or exceed the "Positional Accuracy" requirements stated in
subsection (b)(7) and that which would be provided by another competent
surveyor under similar circumstances.
c) Condominium Surveys. Condominium surveys
are a specialized class of boundary surveys and are governed by the Condominium
Property Act [765 ILCS 605 ]. The plat requirements referred to in Section 5 of
that Act must be the result of actual field measurements and are not to be
transcribed from plans or other informational materials. The exterior
boundaries of a condominium parcel shall be monumented as required by the Plat
Act [765 ILCS 205 ]. Notes on the condominium plat must indicate whether the
interior measurements shown are referring to finished or unfinished surfaces or
planes and what data was used for any elevations depicted on the
plat.
d) Subdivision Surveys
1) Subdivision surveys include subdivision
plats, re-subdivision plats, consolidation plats, and planned unit development
(PUD) plats when used to subdivide land; all of which are governed by and
prepared in accordance with local subdivision control ordinances, governmental
regulations and the Illinois Plat Act [765 ILCS 205 ]. A subdivision survey
requires the retracement of the boundary of the parent tract by the subdividing
surveyor and becomes an original survey upon the creation of new land parcels,
blocks or "lots". Monumentation for subdivision surveys is mandatory according
to the statute. All exterior corners of the subdivision shall be monumented
prior to recordation of the subdivision plat. If, in the opinion of the
subdividing surveyor, a disproportionate number of interior monuments would be
destroyed by grading, utility installation, etc., monumentation of the interior
corners may be delayed unless local regulations or ordinances specify
otherwise. Interior corners of the subdivision shall be monumented prior to the
conveyance of any lot, block, parcel or unit within the subdivision and in all
cases the monumentation shall be in place within 12 months after the recording
date of the subdivision plat. All of the interior corners subject to delayed
staking shall be denoted on the record plat as "to be set", either by labeling
or appropriate symbols or notations. Upon completion of the monumentation the
subdividing surveyor shall file an affidavit with the Recorder of the county in
which the subdivision is located certifying that the monumentation of the
subdivision has been completed. The affidavit shall include the name of the
subdivision, date of plat recording and recording location information (book
and page and/or document number).
2) Vertical subdivisions, i.e., subdivisions
that divide property by horizontal, vertical, and oblique planes, require that
all exterior boundary corners of the subdivision be monumented at its ground
elevation prior to recordation of the subdivision plat. The physical features,
if any, controlling the limits of the subdivided property must be defined on
the subdivision plat. The datum used to control the dividing horizontal planes
must be defined on the subdivision plat together with the benchmark used to
determine the elevations of these planes. The interior corners or any lot or
block corners other than those that are required for monumenting the exterior
boundary corners do not require monumentation.
e) Mortgage Inspection. A Mortgage Inspection
does not approach the standards of other survey categories, though by the
provisions of Section 5 of the Illinois Professional Land Survey Act of 1989
[225 ILCS
330/5] the services of an Illinois Professional Land
Surveyor are required. A mortgage inspection is not a type of boundary survey
or ALTA/ACSM survey and does not constitute a boundary survey of the subject
real property. A mortgage inspection includes field investigation, measurements
and graphic representation of improvements.
1)
Purpose. The mortgage inspection is intended for use by a mortgage lender
and/or title insurer and is only a professional opinion of the relationship of
improvements with respect to the deed lines and the existence, location and
type of building on the property, the intent of which is to assist in the
determination of the property's suitability to serve as collateral for a
mortgage. It is not an opinion as to deed, title or platted lines. It is not to
be used in matters of boundary disputes, legal actions between landowners, or
for construction purposes. No new legal descriptions can be created from a
mortgage inspection.
2) Product. A
complete mortgage inspection will produce a drawing entitled "Mortgage
Inspection" and, if required, a written report of the surveyor's findings and
determinations.
3) Information
A) The following information shall be
furnished by the client and/or his/her agent:
i) Legal description and address for the
tract of land.
ii) Copy of
commitment of title insurance for the tract of land, if possible.
B) The following information shall
be obtained by the surveyor:
i) Copy of
recorded subdivision plats (if applicable).
ii) Recorded section corner tie monuments and
original government surveys (if applicable).
iii) Other necessary surveying
information.
4) Monuments. No monuments shall be
set.
5) Tolerances. Tolerances
cannot be mandated for a mortgage inspection since the very nature of
recovering deed lines and other information for that purpose precludes a rigid
adherence to any standard value.
6)
Field Procedures. The following procedures should generally be considered as
minimum, but deviations as dictated by specific conditions shall be allowed:
A) Preliminary search and recovery of
existing monument evidence.
B)
Field location of tract through measurement from some controlling locations,
such as: street intersection, subdivision corner, section corners, etc.,
sufficient to eliminate the possibility of gross error in location of the
premises.
C) Through field
measurements, locate and dimension relevant improvements.
D) If evidence of deed lines does not exist,
the surveyor is obligated to refuse to perform a mortgage inspection until
satisfactory evidence is obtained, either through a boundary survey or a land
title survey.
E) If evidence exists
of the possibility that the improvements on the subject property or adjoining
property are on or very near the apparent deed lines, the surveyor is obligated
to note his/her findings and recommend that a boundary survey or land title
survey be performed.
7)
Drawing
A) Minimum size: 81/2" x
11".
B) The drawing shall be
entitled:
MORTGAGE INSPECTION
THIS DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A BOUNDARY SURVEY
(The above two lines shall be of the same letter size and shall
be twice the letter size of all other lettering on the drawing.)
C) A North arrow, scale of
drawing, date and drawing legend shall be included.
D) Building dimensions and type of structure
shall be shown.
E) Boundary
dimensions shown shall be based on the public record or description provided;
field measurements do not need to be shown.
F) No dimensional ties from structures or
other improvements to apparent deed lines are required.
G) The legal description of the tract shall
be given on the face of the drawing.
H) Use of the word "survey" in the title, or
any implication in a certification that this drawing represents a "survey", is
prohibited.
I) Professional land
surveyor seal, signature, date of signing, and license expiration date. The
licensee may provide, at his or her sole discretion, an original signature in
the licensee's handwriting, a scanned copy of the document bearing an original
signature, or a signature generated by a computer.
J) Address of the tract.
K) No found corner, boundary line or other
survey monumentation shall be shown on the drawing.
L) Preceding the legal description and in the
same size letters as the legal description the following statement shall
appear:
"This mortgage inspection and drawing is not a boundary survey
or plat of survey. This mortgage inspection was prepared to assist the mortgage
company and title insurance company and is not to be used for any purposes of
boundary disputes, location of actual deed, title or platted lines, or for
construction of new improvements. Graphic representation shall be deemed
approximate and no reliance should be placed on the scale of the
drawing."
M) The following
statement shall be placed immediately above the signature of the surveyor and
in the same size letters as the legal description:
"This professional service conforms to the current Illinois
minimum standards of practice for a mortgage inspection and is not a boundary
survey."
f) Topographic Surveying and Mapping
1) A topographic survey or topographic map is
a delineation of horizontal and/or vertical locations of the existing natural
or man-made features of a portion of the earth's surface, subsurface or
airspace and the graphic representation of the results of the delineation.
Topographic survey and map are defined as below:
A) Topographic Survey
A topographic survey made using accepted terrestrial or GPS
surveying methods or using indirect surveying methods such as photogrammetry,
light detection and ranging (LIDAR) or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or
drones) performed in conjunction with a boundary survey or ALTA/NSPS Land Title
Survey depicting land boundaries shall be entitled "Boundary and Topographic
Survey" or "ALTA/NSPS Land Title and Topographic Survey", and shall be subject
to the current minimum standards established for the ALTA/NSPS Land Title
Surveys or Boundary Surveys by this Part, except where differing federal, State
or local laws, ordinances or rules may be more stringent.
B) Topographic Map
When topography is acquired using accepted terrestrial or GPS
surveying methods, or using indirect surveying methods such as photogrammetry,
light detection and ranging (LIDAR) or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or
drones) and is not performed in conjunction with a boundary survey or ALTA/NSPS
Land Title Survey; boundary lines and boundary data shall be shown as needed/or
as deemed necessary by the surveyor. The source of the land boundary
information along with the statement that "this professional service does not
constitute a boundary survey" shall be shown on the topographic map and placed
near the surveyor's certificate and seal.
i) When the position and/or extent of a
topographic map is not defined by land boundaries, enough information must be
shown on the survey to enable the client to locate the topographic map on the
ground.
ii) A licensed professional
engineer knowledgeable in topographical mapping may perform a topographic map
specific to his/her design project. A licensed professional engineer may not,
however, offer topographic mapping services independent of his/her specific
design project.
2) Positional Accuracy
The horizontal and vertical positional accuracies for
topographic surveys and topographic maps shall be in accordance with the most
current model standards for topographic surveys or topographic maps as
published by the National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS).
3) Information Research Required.
Sufficient information to perform the topographic survey or topographic map
shall be furnished by the client or his/her agent or obtained by the surveyor
by agreement with the client. The following appropriate factors must be
evaluated by the surveyor.
A) A specific
description of the survey site, along with designated areas outside the actual
survey site where topographic information is required.
B) The location, description, datum and
elevation of all benchmarks to be used for the survey. The datum should be
based on a nationally accepted datum whenever practical, unless instructed
otherwise by the client or as mandated by a governmental organization having
jurisdiction in the area the survey is located.
C) The location and description of all
horizontal control points to be used for the survey.
D) If contour lines are required by the
client, the contour interval should be agreed upon by the surveyor and
client.
E) Location and elevations
of utilities is often an important part of a topographic survey. The surveyor
and client shall agree which utilities are to be located and what information
on each utility is to be shown.
4) Field Requirements
A) All surveying instruments shall be kept in
proper adjustment and calibration.
B) The surveyor may apply procedures that
most efficiently meet the requirements of the client without sacrificing the
accuracy of the acquired information.
C) All field data, including electronic field
notes, shall be retained by the professional land surveyor in a legible and
orderly fashion that will be understandable to other surveyors.
5) Plats. On all topographic
surveys and topographic maps, the completed plat shall be drawn on a stable and
durable medium with a minimum size of 81/2" by 11" and shall contain the
following:
A) Firm name, address and
registration number.
B)
Professional land surveyor seal, signature, date of signing, and license
expiration date.
C) "This
professional service conforms to the current Illinois minimum standards for a
topographic survey or topographic map." This statement shall be placed near the
professional land surveyor seal and signature.
D) Client's name.
E) North arrow.
F) Date of completion of field
work.
G) Scale as agreed upon by
surveyor and client.
H) Location
and elevation of any reference benchmarks or site benchmarks at or near the
survey shall be shown, and the datum noted.
I) Legend for all symbols and abbreviations
used on the plat.
J) If elevation
points are to be shown, such elevations shall be shown to the nearest
one-hundredth of a foot on hard surfaces and to the nearest tenth of a foot
elsewhere, unless requested otherwise by the client.
K) Location and description of horizontal
control points used in the survey, which shall be noted and shall be shown on
the plat as requested by the client.
L) The location of permanent structures,
including buildings, retaining walls, bridges, culverts, street or road paving
and sidewalks as requested by the client.
M) Existing contour lines indicating the
relief of the entire parcel, unless required otherwise by the client. Elevation
points may be shown at locations requested by the client.
N) Location and water surface elevations of
lakes, rivers, streams and drainage courses on or near the surveyed parcel, and
direction of flow if any as requested by the client.
O) If topographic information is to be
delivered via electronic media, a suitable format shall be agreed upon with the
client. In every case, the surveyor shall also provide a signed and sealed hard
copy drawing or representation of the survey. This drawing shall be the
official survey and shall be deemed to be correct and superior to the
electronic data.
g) Minimum Standards for Writing Parcel Legal
Descriptions. A description defining land boundaries written for conveyance or
describing the extent of a survey or for other purposes shall be complete,
providing definite and unequivocal identification of the property lines or
boundaries of a unique parcel. The description shall be sufficient to be
platted, located on the ground and, when appropriate, mathematically closed.
The description shall commence at or relate to a physically monumented corner
or boundary control line of record.
1) If the
land is located in a recorded subdivision, the description shall contain the
number or other description of the lot, block or other part of the subdivision,
or shall describe the parcel by reference to a known corner of the lot, block
or other recorded reference.
2) If
the parcel is not located within a recorded subdivision, the description shall
state the section, township, range, principal meridian and county, and shall
describe the parcel by reference to quarter section, quarter-quarter section,
government lot, or metes and bounds, beginning/commencing at a physically
monumented corner and if possible, referencing an established and monumented
line in the United States Public Land Survey System.
3) In any case, when a new description is
created or a previous description is rewritten, enough of the original
description should be maintained so as to form a trail or chain to honor the
calls of the existing parcel description.
4) A description written for other purposes
that do not define land boundaries for land conveyances, or describe the extent
of a survey, such as descriptions written for leases, easements, zoning,
annexation or political boundaries, are not required to relate to a physically
monumented corner.
