Survey Markers to Aid Montecito Recovery Effort

Key landmarks known as “survey monuments” will be established in areas destroyed or damaged by the 1/9 Debris Flow, in a project approved by the County Board of Supervisors on May 1.

“This is an important step in the Montecito recovery,” said Das Williams, Chair, Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. “The network will greatly assist private surveyors and may save residents some money in survey costs.”

The $104,000 Montecito Survey Control Network will survey and set about 70 monuments to help establish property corner monuments that were moved or destroyed by the Debris Flow. The project will provide greater consistency and efficiency in public and private surveys and may reduce survey costs to some residents, officials said.

The 1/9 Debris Flow obscured many private property lines and destroyed many of the official public markers that previously defined land boundaries, said Santa Barbara County Surveyor Aleksandar Jevremovic. As the new monuments are established, surveyors will have a common set of reference points that will increase consistency in future surveys, Jevremovic said.

Property owners need to hire their own licensed surveyors to conduct surveys on their property, Jevremovic said, and some residents have already begun to do so. But if the County’s right-of-way survey is completed on the roads adjacent to their properties, the amount of surveying needed by private owners will be reduced.

The Survey Control Network is not a referral service, Jevremovic noted, and does not eliminate the need for residents to conduct their own property surveys. Residents are advised to hire licensed private surveyors for work on their own properties.

Property owners are encouraged to contact the Case Manager that has been assigned to each property owner affected by the 1/9 Debris Flow by the County’s Planning and Development Department. Property owners can visit the Montecito Center for Preparedness, Recovery and Rebuilding for additional assistance and information.

For more information:

Visit the County Surveyors Office online.

Contact the Montecito Center for Preparedness, Recovery and Rebuilding at 805-845-7887, [email protected] or visit in person at 1283 Coast Village Circle, Montecito, CA 93108.