NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1959 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 1235

SENATE BILL 61

 

 

AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 47 OF THE GENERAL STATUTES RELATING TO PLATS AND SUBDIVISIONS AND LAND SURVEYS AND RECORDING OF SAME.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

 

Section 1. G. S. 47-30 as amended, as indicated by G. S. 47-30, 1957 Cumulative Supplement to the General Statutes, is rewritten to read as follows:

"G. S. 47-30. Plats and Subdivisions: Mapping Requirements.

"a.        Size Requirements: All land maps presented to the register of deeds for recording in the registry of a county in North Carolina after January 1, 1960, shall have an outside marginal size of not more than 21 inches by 30 inches nor less than eight and one-half inches by eleven inches, including one and one-half inches for binding on the left margin and one-half inch border on each of the other sides. Where size of land areas, or suitable scale to assure legibility require, maps may be placed on two or more sheets with appropriate match lines. All counties currently operating under statutes or other laws setting forth regulatory size will be allowed to continue to use such sizes as are currently in use until June 30, 1963, on or before which time they shall modify their size to conform to those shown above.

"b.        All maps presented for recording shall be a reproducible map in cloth, linen, film, or other permanent material and submitted in this form. Such recorded map shall be maintained in map files and a direct or photographic copy shall be placed in the map book maintained for that purpose and properly indexed for use.

"c.        The title of each map shall contain the following information: Property designation, name of owner, location to include township, county and state, the date or dates the survey was made; scale in feet per inch in words or figures and bar graph; name, address, registration number and seal of engineer or surveyor.

"d.        Certificate: There shall appear on each map a certificate by the person making the survey, or the map where no survey was made, stating the origin of the information shown on the map, including deeds and any recorded data shown thereon. If a complete survey was made, the error of closure as calculated by latitudes and departures must be shown. Any lines on the map that were not actually surveyed must be clearly indicated and a statement included revealing the source of information. The execution of such certificate shall be acknowledged before any officer authorized to take acknowledgments by the person preparing the map. All maps to be recorded shall be probated as required by law for the registration of deeds.

"(1)      The certificate required above shall be in substantially the following form:

"I, _____________________ certify that this map was drawn from (an actual survey made by me) (deed description recorded in Book ______, Page _____, Book _____, Page _____, etc.) (other); that the error of closure as calculated by latitudes and departures is 1: ____________; that the boundaries not surveyed are shown as broken lines plotted from information found in Book _____, Page _____; that this map was prepared in accordance with G. S. 47-30 as amended. Witness my hand and Seal this ________________ day of _____________________, A. D., 19_____.

                                                                        ____________________________________

                                                                                              Surveyor or Engineer

"e.        If area of land parcels is shown, the method of computation used by the surveyor must be shown. Area "by estimation" is not acceptable, nor is the area copied from another source.

"f.        Every map shall contain the following specific information:

"(1)      An accurately positioned North arrow co-ordinated with any bearings shown on the map. Indication shall be made as to whether the North index is true, magnetic or grid.

"(2)      The azimuth or courses and distances as surveyed of every line shall be shown including offset lines where actually used in the field. Distances shall be in feet and decimals thereof; other units of measure may be placed in parentheses if desired.

"(3)      All map lines shall be by horizontal (level) measurements. All information shown on the map shall be correctly plotted to the scale shown. Enlargement of portions of a map are acceptable in the interest of clarity, where shown as inserts on the same sheet.

"(4)      Where a boundary is formed by a curved line, the following data must be given: actual survey data from the point of curvature of the curve to the point of tangent shall be shown as standard curve data, or as a traverse of chords around the curve.

"(5)      Where a subdivision of land is set out on the map, all streets and lots shall be carefully plotted with dimension lines indicating widths and all other pertinent information necessary to re-establish in the field.

"(6)      Where control corners have been established in compliance with G. S. 39-32.1, 2, 3, and 4, as amended, the location and pertinent information as required in the reference statute shall be plotted on the map. All other corners which are marked by monument or natural object shall be so identified on all maps, and all corners of adjacent owners in the boundary lines of the subject tract which are marked by monument or natural object must be shown with a distance from one or more of the subject tract's corners.

"(7)      The names of adjacent land owners and lot block and subdivision designations shall be shown where they have been determined and verified by the surveyor.

"(8)      All visible and apparent rights of way, water courses, utilities, roadways, and other such improvements shall be accurately located where crossing or forming any boundary line of the property shown, and locating, offset or traverse lines shall be plotted in broken lines with azimuths or courses and distances shown on the map.

"(9)      Where the map is the result of a survey, one or more corners shall, by a system of azimuths or courses and distances, be accurately tied to a monument of some U. S. or State Agency Survey System, such as the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Systems, where such monument is within 2,000 feet of said corner. Where the N. C. Grid System co-ordinates of said monument have been published by the North Carolina Department of Conservation and Development, the co-ordinates of the referenced corner shall be computed and shown in X and Y ordinates on the map. Where such a monument is not available, the tie shall be made to some pertinent and permanent recognizable landmark or identifiable point.

"g.        Such map, when prepared, proven and probated as provided herein as deeds and other conveyances, when presented for recording, shall be recorded in the Map Book and when so recorded shall be duly indexed. Reference in any instrument hereafter executed to the record of any map herein authorized shall have the same effect as if the description of the lands as indicated on the record of the map were set out in the instrument.

"h.        Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to prevent the recording of any map made prior to January 1, 1960.

"i.         Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to invalidate any instrument or the title thereby conveyed making reference to any recorded map."

Sec. 2. G. S. 47-32 is amended to read as follows:

"After January 1, 1960, in all special proceedings in which a map shall be filed as a part of the papers, such map shall meet the specifications required for recording of maps in the office of the register of deeds, and the Clerk of Superior Court shall certify a copy thereof to the register of deeds of the county in which said lands lie for recording in the Map Book provided for that purpose; and the Clerk of Superior Court shall have a photographic copy of said map made on a sheet of the same size as the leaves in the book in which the special proceeding is recorded, and when made, shall place said photographic copy in said book at the end of the report of the commissioner or other document referring to said map. The Clerk of Superior Court shall be allowed a fee to be fixed by the county commissioners, to be taxed in the bill of costs, which fee shall cover the cost of making said photographic copy and all services of the Clerk in connection therewith."

Sec. 3. Any person, firm or corporation wilfully violating the provisions of this Act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be subject to a fine of not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500.00).

Sec. 3A. This Act shall not apply to Washington and Tyrrell Counties.

Sec. 3.1. The provisions of this Act shall not apply to the  following Counties: Beaufort, Hyde, Jones, Pamlico, Pitt, Robeson, Watauga, Northampton, Martin, Scotland, Pender, Surry, Alleghany, Harnett, Swain, Madison, Person, Cherokee, Lenoir, Bladen, Franklin, Caswell, Greene, Hoke, Pasquotank, Ashe, Alexander, Lee and Jackson.

Sec. 4. All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 5. This Act shall be in full force and effect from and after January 1, 1960.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 20th day of June, 1959.