From the Editor:

Editorials are not necessarily the view of all the members:

More on platting coming......new ordinances frequently will add to your "frustration" and "aggravation factors".

A few questions regarding the Platting process (a little food for thought):

I recently attended a City of Houston Planning Commission meeting and met some old friends who share some of the same problems with regards to the City Planning and Development Department we all do, it seems. Other Surveyors in attendance at the meeting three that will remain nameless since I didn't clear it with them first. I have talked with other surveyors over the past year or two about platting problems and they too feel the system has become a challenge, at the very least. First I must qualify these statements and concerns. Like is says at the top of the page, "editorials are not necessarily the view of all the members". In fact, I can think of at least one person in the chapter that would never agree with me on anything, so I'll let the chips fall where they may. I know the smaller surveying firms, you know the companies that don't have at least two or three people dedicated full-time to platting, can identify with most of the following. I notice that more and more surveyors are deciding NOT to perform platting due to the overwhelming complexity and difficulty in dealing with the planning and development department. First a few questions to get you thinking.

Have you ever submitted a plat and the first comments come back with, what I would call, drafting comments? (change this line type, this font, this format) I guess since there is a lack of standards it's up to the individual reviewer to make these comments. I had no idea there was a drafting police. You would think they had plenty of things to concentrate on other than drafting opinions. Perhaps I missed that in Chapter 42.

Have you submitted a Preliminary, got required changes on a markup and submitted a final and received comments that require you to change back the original submittal? Huh? Different reviewer? Change of mind? Making busy work for surveyors?

Have you received an email or phone call right after your normal business hours that require changes in your submittal due by 8 a.m. the next day "or your plat will be deferred"? (sounds like a veiled threat, doesn't it?) Usually this will be something related to title commitment/city planning letter maybe even a drafting change or simple typo. We all know when most Title companies open and it's not 7 a.m.

Have you noticed the Planning Dept. has been force feeding us new ordinances on a regular basis over the past two years?

Have you noticed on your CPC-101 that even after you have submitted the plat for final approval, and made the required revisions, the CPC-101 still has the same comments?

Some of my favorites are:

"049.2 Subdivision plat must include State Plane Coordinates in NAD83; and NAVD 1988 with 2001 adjustment."
found after all boundary corners have been labeled with SPC.

"063. All appropriate engineering and surveying data shall be shown. (42 & 44)"
Cryptic at best. Perhaps they have to put SOMETHING on the CPC-101 (makes you wonder if an attorney is writing it since they like to use the phrase "all". 

"064. Provide all dedication acknowledgements and certificates on the face of the plat.(42 & 44)"
This on a FINAL. Do you really think we got this far without that on the plat?

"204. Provide current title opinion in complete agreement with the plat dedication and addressed to the Planning & Development Department. (45)"  This is required at every single step in the process. I wonder if they think it's really going to change during the platting process?

This is a very poor practice to put this on the CPC-101 if it has been dealt with on the final submittal and approved. To me, being the simple person that I am, it makes me wonder if I missed something so I pour over the plat in detail to find nothing wrong and call the reviewer and ask about it, only to find it's that person's standard policy to put it on the CPC-101. Woah !! Individuality in a standardized form. Scary, I know.

Have you platted along a county road? Was it a prescriptive rights road? Did you have to educate the reviewer in what a "prescriptive easement" is and I had my best laugh this year after a two page explanation of why there were no record documents of how the County got the road, the reply was simply "please provide deed record for county road". HELLO, anybody listening? It's not a lot better when bordering a city street. They own it but we have to prove it to them. Do you get the feeling we're the source of their GIS program?

There are many concerns about the functionality of the planning and development process, including the apparent lack of seasoned employees. I recently asked a reviewer how long she had been at the city and could not get an answer. It seems surveyors have a bad reputation for not returning calls. Ever tried to contact a planner by phone? It's best to make the pilgrimage to the kingdom of the six floor and wait patiently, as long as it takes, for the "Planner of the Day". I have often wondered if this is a reward or a punishment for the planner?

Do you think City Council is aware of how many plats do not get processed through the system due to mis-management and poorly trained or seasoned personnel?

Imagine this situation, your plat is recommended for approval by the planning department, all your issues have been dealt with and politics at the Planning Commission deals you plat the death blow. They choose not to approve it, against recommendation from planning and legal departments. Ouch.

Most of us have clients that do not understand, nor do they want to, the platting process, but they do expect us to deliver a recorded plat in a reasonable time for a fair price. Most want a lump sum price. If you have a crystal ball or you can borrow your daughter's Ouigi Board or the eight ball with answers, you might be able to predict what they will throw at you during the platting process with the exception of a new ordinance dealing with park space or some other thing. The platting process, for those of us without a full-time dedicated plat team, is fraught with many pitfalls.

Three last questions:
Can you think of anyone, not a governmental employee, that signs a subdivision plat, other than a Registered Professional Land Surveyor?
How many surveyors on the planning commission and what is their focus?
Do you think Wayne Dolchifino could have some fun with the city as he did with the county recently? Way to go Wayne !!

If you agree let me know, if not, c'est dommage.
 

We're back online:

No, your computer is fine the web site was just in decay and languishing in apathy. It's been a while since I've been able to spend any time on the web site, but now I'm back on the job. As some of you probably know, I had to take a sabbatical from the pleasures of managing the Chapter 9 web site for a while due to a bout of official duties at the State level. A little history of our web site is in order since it's getting ready to have a face lift and a major overhaul. The Chapter 9 web site was initiated by the chapter ten years ago. At the time Larry Smith commissioned Steven Markham to get it going. At the time both worked for P.B.S. & J. The template was borrowed from Chapter 6 (Beaumont) and their man of many talents Richard Worthey. The Domain (TSPS-9.ORG) was registered under the name of PBS&J and Steven Markham was the original web master. Not too long after, in a moment of weakness, I was volunteered to replace Steven and took over his duties. I maintained the web site until my state duties started taking a majority of my off-duty hours and I asked to be replaced. Bob Terry and then Rob Hertwig managed the web site. Two men with a great deal of work to do on any normal day. Due to their overwhelming work load the web site had taken a back seat to their other duties. There are only so many hours in a day.
    During my time as President of TSPS, I received a letter from a Chapter 9 member, who wanted to remain unidentified, complaining about the outdated web site that was not doing the job of keeping members informed. After all, that's the function of a good web site, to inform people. I must admit I used the website for information about some of the vendors listed, officers phone numbers and committee chairmen and other members. I didn't bother to put them in my outlook contacts because at the time when I started working on the website I hadn't even been using the contacts. Anyway, I just knew if I needed that information, I knew it would always be right there under my favorites at tsps-9.org. Wrong, way wrong.
    Near the end of my term as President, I addressed the Chapter at a dinner meeting about some state issues and informed those in attendance that I had volunteered to start maintaining the web site again. I could, after all, see the light at the end of the tunnel. I made some updates, thinking this would be fairly easy to fix a few broken links and some page frames and the sort. Wrong, way wrong again. Little did I know that lurking in the unknown of beauracracy were bills that would call the web site to it's demise. Yes the bill collector cometh. The website had been moved to a different web hosting company. For the uninitiated, that a place that you use to put things for web sites instead of on your computer and it ends up on the www. The web hosting bill was mailed to PBS&J, who probably promptly filed it in file thirteen (garbage can). When our rent came due and wasn't paid, we were evicted. The website died and we lost our spot on the web. Since we had the site registered to PBS&J and the site was down anyway. I took on the quest of getting the ownership back in the hands of TSPS, move the website to 4dwebhosting and reloading it. The only version available was from 2005. Getting all of that done took two months. The mission has been accomplished but now be patient and give me a week or three to get it all back updated and working. Like you, the members, I also have a full time job and still a year to serve as Past President.

If you have pertinent information about TSPS events, schedules or data, feel free to email it to me and I'll review it and put it on the appropriate page. Thanks for you patience and I'll be seeing you at the next dinner meeting.

Hang in there, we have a ways to go.

by Bud Thompson, web master