Green Acres Policies for Approval of Surveys
This page addresses survey policies affecting surveyors who perform work directly or indirectly
for Green Acres and those who contract to obtain that survey work.
Sections address the following topics:
Green Acres as an Ultimate User of Surveys
Properties purchased with Green Acres Program funding
may subject those parcels to restrictions and covenants
to assure their status as undeveloped open space. Thus,
Green Acres may be an Ultimate User for surveys of properties
for county governments, municipal governments, or not–for–profit
organizations as well as for surveys made directly for
this agency. Green Acres’ interests in the surveyed
lands entitle it to require formats and additional information
consistent with its needs and practices, which may exceed
minimum technical criteria established by State Board of
Registration regulations established for surveys and descriptions
produced in this state. Green Acres has posted its Minimum
Specifications for Land Surveys and Property Descriptions
on this website. Land acquisitions for state parks, wildlife
management areas, or cooperative efforts that will include
state acquisition funds additionally must conform with
Scope of Work for Professional Land Surveying Services,
obtainable from the Green Acres office.
EIFP Participation
Parcels eligible for Green Acres EIFP funding participation
are subject to stringent use restrictions both present
and future. The property must be free of encroachment by
adjoiners at the time of acquisition and funding, and the
site itself must be free of improvements. Future use of
the property must leave the land in this undisturbed state.
Therefore no structures or paving are permitted for future
site development status.
Determining Encumbered Area
Green Acres' policy is to avoid funding of areas
already subject to the rights of the public or to uses
inconsistent with conservation, outdoor recreation purposes,
park land, or open space preservation. Therefore, funding
is not available for areas within public rights–of–way,
deed overlap areas, or other areas where the local unit
will not be obtaining insurable or marketable title. Such
areas must be identified separately as line items in the
Area Summary in the Legend of Acquisition and subtracted
from the total surveyed acreage to yield the net Green
Acres encumbrance for a site. Additionally, areas that
overlap adjoiners deeds and areas of unknown ownership
such as gores are not eligible for Green Acres participation
and encumbrance, although these areas can be included in
the deed as quit claimed from seller to purchaser. Where
project parcels adjoin a road with substandard right–of–way
width, a buffer area is to be excluded from the participation
area to prevent a future diversion from parkland issue.
Such buffer areas need not be labeled “for future
road widening”, as this may be construed as an offer
of a road dedication. However, they shall be labeled as
exceptions to the Green Acres encumbrance area. The same
is true for areas of encroachment where the client wishes
to have the flexibility to settle boundary issues by selling
these areas in fee or easement to the encroaching adjoiner.
Survey Certifications
Surveys shall be certified only to those parties having
a tangible interest in the property. Attorneys for the
parties involved in the transaction do not have a tangible
interest and are not to be listed in certifications. Buyers,
sellers, title insurers, and lending institutions do have
tangible interests and may be included in the certification. Green Acres,
as an entity providing funding for the acquisition and encumbering the
property as a condition of that funding, is a party having interest and
therefore must be included in the certification.
Property Corner Markers
Green Acres' contracts establish that corner markers
must be set at the limits of a project area (one or more
tax lots) where the same adjoins lands of others. However,
corner markers are not to be set on corners that are:
- internal to the project area,
- common with other lands of the grantee taking title
to the land (such as other lands owned by Green Acres)
or
- along a public road right–of–way, except
where the external lines of the project area intersect
the right–of–way line of the public road.
Monumentation in General
- Property corner markers and line markers shall be shown
on the survey plans as “found” or “set”.
Markers shall not be shown as “to be set”.
Funding will not be approved for sites for which markers
included in the contract are not yet set.
- Property corner markers shall be referenced as “found” or “set” in
written descriptions prepared by the land surveyor. Markers
shall not be referenced as “to be set”.
- When property markers are found or set in the field,
they shall be included in the written description prepared
by the land surveyor. Descriptions shall not run “to
a point” when a physical marker exists. Markers
passed over by a property line shall also be referenced
as being so many feet from the beginning or terminus
of the relevant description course.
Overlaps and Gores
As a result of research and field observations, the survey
may uncover areas of clouded title or ambiguities such
as deed gores, deed overlaps and areas left unclear as
to ownership. Although the surveyor may be able to render
a professional opinion as to how a deed problem was created,
the surveyor is only responsible to show on the plan of
survey the record condition as it now exists. Areas of
confusion are to be located by bearings and distances and
the area is to be clearly stated. The plat of a parcel
being acquired must show the total area surveyed, subject
to an area of confusion with an adjoining area for which
the tax lot and block numbers are given. Any “Apparent
Deed Gore”, Deed Overlap, “Clouded Title Area” or “Encroachment
Area” shall be labeled on the plats of all adjoiners
as an area of confusion being surveyed, and defined by
bearings, distances, and area. The description of property
may be written “subject to” such area, or the
using agency may require that a separate metes and bounds
description be prepared. Apparent gore areas found to exist
as a result of the survey shall always be described by
a separate metes and bounds description to provide the
using agency the opportunity to obtain a quit claim deed.
A) Overlaps
Green Acres generally does not fund areas of clouded title.
Areas of overlapping title can be handled in two ways:
- Include the overlap area in the overall description
of the property surveyed and understand that Green Acres
will not fund it. The description will be “subject
to” the described area of overlap in such instances.
- Exclude the overlap area from the property being funded
by Green Acres with a metes and bounds description that
does not include it, but separately describe the overlap
area. After closing, the property owner can use this
described overlap area to quit claim the property to
an adjoiner who is adversely using the land.
B) Gores
Green Acres generally does not fund areas of clouded title. Areas
of apparent title gore between adjoining ownership may be resolved
by quit claim deed to Green Acres describing the gore area.
Deeds Running to Centerline of Public Road Rights–of–Way
- Green Acres generally does not fund the area within public rights–of–way.
If the fee title for a proposed acquisition extends to the center of a
public road, the survey lines shall run to the center of the public road
to properly extinguish all rights that the seller may have in the public
right–of–way. Descriptions and surveys of properties that run
to the centerline of public roads shall provide the bearings and distances
of the right–of–way sidelines, as well as the area of the public
right–of–way. They shall also note that the properties are
subject to the paramount rights of the public and possible private rights;
the area within road rights–of–way shall be stated as a separate
item on both the plat and in the description. If there has been no dedication
to define the sidelines of the right–of–way, the area of the
right–of–way is defined as the area of the paved or traveled
portion of the roadbed. This section does not apply to private roads crossing
the parcel being surveyed, which also must also be shown.
- The survey must indicate recording information for maps, deed book number
and page number, or other pertinent information regarding the dedication
of public ways or private easements. The surveyor is cautioned that a reference
to a Green Acres Participation or Encumbrance buffer strip adjoining a
public right–of–way labeled for “future road purposes” may
be construed as an offer of dedication that is irrevocable on the part
of the owner. It is suggested that participation limit line or buffer area
be used in order allow the using agency a greater flexibility for the future
use of these areas.
Variable Width Road Rights–of–Way
While a road width might vary, there is generally some defined width that
can be determined in front of the acquisition parcel. The width between road
right–of–way sideline and centerline shall be shown on the survey
and referenced in the description provided by the land surveyor.
Paper Streets (Lack of Vacation Ordinance)
When a property to be acquired or funded by Green Acres fronts on an unimproved
or paper street, the survey and description shall run to the center of such
streets. A note shall be added to the plan and description that the area
between the centerline of the paper street and the right–of–way
line defining the perimeter of the site in question is subject to the rights
of public passage, including the area in acres to three decimal places.
Waters and Waterways
- Areas of Riparian Ownership Claims by the State of New Jersey
The official state maps showing riparian claims of the State of New Jersey
shall be used to reproduce those claim lines on the plan of survey. These
maps, entitled “Subject To Investigation for Areas Now Or Formerly
Below Mean High Water”, have been filed in the office of the county
recorder or clerk. The area affected by these riparian tidelands claims
by the State are generally not funded for acquisition, and shall be noted
to the nearest tenth of an acre in the Legend of Acquisition on the survey,
the Surveyor’s Certification Form, and the description of lands
to be acquired.
- Waterways Other Than Tidelands
- Area under water must be provided for appraisal purposes, and is
to be noted to the nearest tenth of an acre in the Legend of Acquisition
on the Survey as well as on the Surveyor’s Certification Form.
- The plan must clearly state the date/time of survey, the Apparent
Mean High Water, Mean Low Water or other acceptable survey terms
as may be appropriate (the term trash line is not an appropriate
nor an acceptable survey term).
- A tie line shall be provided between the beginning of the first
course running along a watercourse to the terminus of the final such
course. Tie lines may be eliminated from the plan when the waterline
is surveyed and/or defined by mathematical survey expressions with
angular units being stated in degrees, minutes and whole seconds
of arc, and the horizontal distances, radii of curves or lengths
of arc are stated in feet to two decimal places.
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