[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of Saratoga
County 8-13-1973 by L.L. No. 2-1973. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Uniform construction codes — See Ch. 158.
This chapter shall be known as the "Saratoga County Geodetic
Survey Monumentation Law."
The provisions herein contained are for the purpose of establishing
standards for the use of the Saratoga County Geodetic Survey Monumentation
Network and for the purpose of maintaining monuments in such network
in order to insure their continued use as accurate survey markers.
When used herein unless otherwise expressly stated, the following
terms shall mean:
The horizontal direction of a line.
A point, usually a monument used primarily to establish reference
azimuth from a triangulation station.
Any monument, the location of which has been established
to a high degree of accuracy, and used as a control point to which
surveys of lesser accuracy may be tied.
Values designating the location of a point relative to the
location of all other points in a given frame of reference. In this
chapter, only the New York State (East Zone) Plane Coordinate System
is intended as the frame of reference.
Since any movement of a monument destroys its usefulness,
disturbance of a monument shall be equated with destruction.
Any person, company, corporation, or governmental agency
or authority who themselves undertake or who let contracts for a building
project, or provide public services in the areas of gas, electric,
telephone, water, transportation, or sewers, whether by distribution
or transmission.
The Saratoga County Director of Real Property Tax Services,
or his duly authorized representative.
The system of monumented, coordinated points established
by the office of the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, formerly known as the "United States Coast and Geodetic
Survey," and by other governmental or private agencies and extended
or maintained by Saratoga County.
The basic framework of points whose horizontal position and
interrelationship have been accurately determined so that the location
of subsidiary work may be precisely related to the network.
A visible distant object such as water tanks, church spires,
smoke stacks, etc., whose Azimuth from a given monument has been previously
established.
Those monuments in the vicinity of a triangulation station
which are placed and tied to the Triangulation Station for the purpose
of protection and easy recovery of the triangulation station.
A monumented point easily accessible to engineers and land
surveyors, and which is a part of the geodetic control network. The
location of Traverse Stations can be expected to be determined to
an accuracy of not less than one part in 50,000.
A point of permanent reference, usually a buried portland
cement concrete mass atop of which is fixed an indexed brass marker,
usually located in a relatively isolated, well-protected area, the
location relative to the geodetic control network having been established
by first order methods to an accuracy of not less than one part in
100,000 by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
formerly known as the "United States Coast and Geodetic Survey."
Same as horizontal control, except that its purpose is to
establish elevation above a common datum (mean sea level) so that
such information on all projects will be related.
The Director is empowered to and shall review, evaluate and
approve all plans of proposed development, utility installations and
construction within public rights-of-way within the County of Saratoga
where a geodetic monument may be involved, or in any area within the
County where a triangulation monument may be involved, for conformance
with the stated purpose and intent of this chapter.
A.Â
It shall be the responsibility of the developer to request of the
Director exact information as to the location of monuments in the
vicinity of his project. All traverse monuments which are in or near
any right-of-way encompassed by the project or triangulation monuments
and their reference markers and azimuth marks anywhere within the
projects shall be shown on all plans of the project which shall be
submitted to the Director for his approval.
B.Â
It shall be the responsibility of the developer to protect said monuments
in a manner which shall ensure their protection against damage or
destruction in a manner acceptable to the Director.
C.Â
Where the design of a project is such that a control monument must
be destroyed, a note to that effect shall appear on the plans submitted
for approval to the Director, who shall cause such monument to be
reset by the Saratoga County Geodetic Survey Office in such a place
of manner as to ensure its preservation and future usefulness.
D.Â
The total cost of resetting the monuments and necessary survey work
to integrate the reset monuments into the Saratoga County Geodetic
System shall be borne by the developer involved.
The following requirements are based on the presumption that
geodetic control monument networks have been completed in the project
area. In cases where such networks are underway or incomplete, the
following requirements or applicable portions thereof may be waived
by the Director at his discretion.
A.Â
It shall be the responsibility of the developer to determine if at
least one of two or more intervisible monuments, or one monument with
azimuths of record to intersection stations, is within 2,500 feet
of his project, except that where the entire project involves not
more than five residential lots, the distance shall be 1,200 feet.
If such survey control exists, he shall tie his boundaries into the
horizontal control as established by said monuments. The acceptable
error in the accuracy of the field work necessary to establish the
boundaries and the ties shall be not greater than 1:10,000. A certification
statement to that effect shall appear on the plat of the survey. All
angle points of the boundaries of the project shall show the coordinates
of said points as reduced to sea level. The coordinates shall be in
the New York State Plane Coordinate System, East Zone, as established
by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey and expanded by the
Saratoga County Geodetic Survey. Datum used for vertical control shall
be identified on the plat.
B.Â
Where a project involves easements and/or the installation of underground
facilities, the easement boundaries shall be coordinated in the same
manner as property boundaries. As-built maps shall include coordinates
of the beginning, the end and all points where a change of direction
occurs in the underground facility, and shall be of sufficient accuracy
to assure maximum safety to those facilities when additional facilities
are installed nearby. Where a project includes the building of internal
roads, all monumented corners of the rights-of-way shall be coordinated
and shown on the plat.
The Director shall prescribe orders of procedure, rules, regulations
and criteria which shall be filed with the Clerk of the County Board
of Supervisors and shall be available for inspection to the public.
Wherever it appears, in accordance with the provisions of this
chapter, that geodetic survey monuments installed or employed by the
County of Saratoga are in danger of being damaged, destroyed or removed
by a developer, the Director may require a bond in the amount of $1,000
per monument to be posted with and approved by the Director, said
bond to be subject to forfeiture if in the opinion of the Director
there is adequate proof that the provisions of this chapter have been
violated. The Director may issue notices and stop-work orders with
respect to acts of violation during the progress of any project, or
where nonconformance with the stated purpose and intent of this chapter
is apparent or likely. No plat shall be filed in the office of the
Saratoga County Clerk unless the provisions of this chapter have been
complied with and such compliance is noted in writing by the Director.
Failure of the Director to act within 30 days of the filing with him
shall automatically operate as an approval, which may be established
by affidavit.
A.Â
Any violation of or nonconformance with any provision of this chapter,
or of any rule, regulation, order or special direction duly made thereunder
shall constitute an offense punishable for each offense by a fine
not exceeding $500 or by imprisonment for each offense not exceeding
150 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
B.Â
Any developer violating or failing to comply with any provision of
this chapter or any order made pursuant thereto shall be responsible
for any damages resulting therefrom to geodetic survey monuments installed
or employed by the County of Saratoga. This money may be collected
by civil action in any Town Justice Court, the City Court of the City
of Saratoga Springs, or City of Mechanicville, the County Court of
the County of Saratoga or the Supreme Court of the State of New York.
Obedience to the law may also be enforced by injunction. Every day
of such violation or failure may be held to constitute a separate
offense. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to exempt an
offender from any other prosecution or penalty provided by law.
