Osprey - 4-7-2015 at 04:35 PM
Baja Land Surveys
It is no secret that Baja California is just now crawling out of the 20th century when it comes to land surveys. They are improving faster every day
but most of the work is being done as deeds appear for a sale or lease. It wasn’t that long ago that land claims and the subsequent deeds were made by
a guy pacing off so many meters from boulder to rock to cactus to arroyo. Maybe later somebody would bring a chain, some pegs and begin to formalize
the plots into squares, and rectangles.
I’ve never even seen the deed on my little house in Mexico because it’s in a file as a bank trust. I’m not sure I could have made any sense of it
because I knew so little about the modern trust deeds I handled in Las Vegas. They all had a solid point of reference; Mt. Diablo near Oakley,
California just to the east of the bay area. Had me scratching my head way back when because the mountain is only about 3800 feet high, just a hill
compared to the Sierras.
Maybe we have enough satellites now that we don’t need mountains and rivers, metes and bounds any more, just a dead certain GPS reading. There was a
time when a surveyor down here would start at some known spot in the desert and using his transit and theodolite, chains or tape would perfect the
boundaries of a series of lots in a manzana, a city block. As the survey progressed, each lot a known number of meters in a certain direction, the
errors would begin to add up and often there would be land left over called demasias or not enough on the last one, a shortage called a falta. Often
the surveyors would claim the extra land for themselves, ignore the last lot owner’s disgust.
I can speak to this with some authority because my neighbor’s lot line runs right through my bedroom and crosses my old septic tank. Neither of us
sees a problem so we have ignored the line.
When I first bought this little place I had a wall built around the lot – about chest high so I could see all the local action from my patio. At the
corner the builder asked me where to make the new wall, what line to follow. Since my other neighbor down the hill had a formal survey done and built
his wall accordingly I told the builder just to follow that line.
Over the next couple of days, as the wall took shape, the world could see that I was about to capture a very nice chunk of the wide street. The
builder had not sought permits for the wall but once it was in place he came to me saying I had to pay the city, the pueblo, $400 dollars for the
permit, the new land (2300 sq. ft.) which I paid.
I asked the guy why it was exactly $400 bucks. He said “Because four guys with the city saw us building the wall”.
My bank trust runs for 50 years, twenty of which have passed and when my wife and I attain room temperature, the house reverts to her daughter. She
would not have dreamed that modern Google GPS systems could be a valued realty beneficiary’s friend way down here in old Mexico.
sancho - 4-7-2015 at 04:52 PM
I remember an often quoted story of some Gringo couple
built a home down the Rosarito/Ensenada corridor, complete
with survey, architect. After some time living there was a
knock on the door. Mex Govt claiming x portion of the
house was in the Federal Zone, which I guess is some
meters up from high tide? Ended up paying rent to Mex
for encroachment. I understand the Peninsula is moving
no., while leaving Cape behind, the land from La Paz to
the Pacific is where the divide is occuring
Osprey - 4-7-2015 at 05:15 PM
Sancho, the Zona Federal is 64 feet above the mean high tide. I looked that up and it follows a 15 year phasing of the moon. So if you see a monument
it is supposed to be an indicator of that line on the day of the placement ---- I could not discover when the moon phases begin and end. Maybe some
Nomad can inform us. I don't think plate tectonics have anything to do with the kind of dispute you describe.
Bob and Susan - 4-7-2015 at 05:27 PM
actually the beach area changes...
in 10 years you COULD be in the federal zone when you weren't when you built
moral: build back
larryC - 4-7-2015 at 05:27 PM
I agree the surveys are kind of funny. On my bank trust the survey shows that my lot measures 49.754 meters across one leg. Are they trying to tell me
they measured my lot to within approximately .004 of an inch?
Ya gotta smile.
Larry
Survey
J.P. - 4-7-2015 at 08:30 PM
When land is offered for sale in the U.S. a smart seller will offer it as for instance 40 Acers More Or Less to cover survey mistakes.
Osprey - 4-8-2015 at 07:33 AM
I tried to find out more about the moon cycles: turns out the datum is by a formal 19 year epoch chart. The last epoch ended in 2001 so the current
one will end in 2020. Don't know how Mexico uses the tides datum charts but were I in a legal dispute that's where I would start to look, ask
questions.
Veery complicated to say the least -- tides, storms and currents shift and shape beaches everywhere. Here the local ejido and the marina moved the
monuments several times in the middle of the night as they sought to gain more land (gana del mar) or lose less to the forces at work.
Semana Santa campers here can attest to a good thing coming of the marina/jetties; after about 7 years we have gained more beach sand from the sea and
enjoy row after row of sand bars --- not good for fishing but more fun for just splashing around, enjoying the water.