6 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 46, No. 2 Rule 6.5.1 is an interesting Rule to review and ponder. It outlines some, but not all actions which will be considered by the Board to fall within the definition of a Land Survey. I’m not going to try to review all the aspects and ramifications in this article of 6.5.1(a)- (1) & 6.5.1.1. I may come back to some others in future articles, but suffice it to say that this is part of what the Board uses to decide if actions by a licensed land surveyor constitute the practice of land surveying and subsequently then if the PLS should be reviewed for possible disciplinary action. But for the purposes of this article I want to focus on 6.5.1(a) & 6.5.1(c) especially as they relate to the practice commonly referred to in our industry as a “Find and Flag” operation (F&F). In the remote case that you don’t understand what is meant by F&F, consider yourself fortunate. I recommend you don’t even consider doing it, and you might even be better off to stop reading this article right here. But at the risk of informing those PLS’s who would take advantage of their position and the public, F&F is when a PLS, or PLS’s representative, visits a property, finds apparent property corner monumentation, flags that apparent property corner monument for the property owner, and then ceases further activity and departs the site. The property owner likely feels they’ve received a legitimate land surveying service in that they couldn’t find their own property corner monumentation by themselves, but they can now rely on those found monuments to complete whatever it is they intend, i.e. build a fence or determine a setback for a shed, etc. The PLS may feel as though a legitimate service has been provided, yet they’ve avoided the requirements to complete any measurements or draft and deposit a plat, while saving the property owner significant charges and possibly even outsmarting their competition. But those PLS’s who feel that way should think again. There are so many pitfalls for a F&F on a property it’s almost impossible to outline them all. The most obvious is, what if you’ve just indicated to the property owner that a particular monument marks their corner location, when even a quick measurement would show you that it’s not the right location? How are you going to explain that to your insurance company, or worse a judge? And let’s face it, there’s really no doubt in anyone’s mind, the PLS or the property owner, that the property owner is going to interpret the found monumentation to represent their property corners, agreed? But the Board isn’t concerned about your insurance policy or what a judge might think. Board Rule 6.5.1(a) reads, “The establishment of boundaries or the restoration or rehabilitation of any monument marking a corner that controls the location of real property.” Think about this in relation to the F&F. During a F&F a PLS is not establishing boundaries. That’s the purview of an original surveyor. But it’s not too difficult to see that a F&F can be interpreted as “restoration or rehabilitation of any monument marking a corner.” If it didn’t mark a corner, why was it shown to the property owner and flagging tied on it? Featured Article Denver COLORADO RULE 6.5.1— FIND AND FLAG By Earl Henderson, PLS
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