There has been a lot of back and forth about revising the minimum standards. There has been a great deal of effort made to revise the ABSMS by a group of surveyors from all over the state. Their efforts are to be applauded. The current standards leave much to be desired and were an attempt to fix a problem they weren't equipped to fix.
I have begun to think that maybe minimum standards for our practice is the wrong approach. Maybe we should think about a "Manual of Surveying Instructions for the Private Land within the State of Arizona". Much like the template of the BLM Manual. I envision it to be structured like this:
Chapter 1 - Authorities
State Board of Technical Registration Rules and Statutes
Chapter 2 - County Subdivisions
County Subdivision Statutes
Chapter 3 - City Subdivisions
City Subdivision Statutes
Chapter 4 - Dependent Resurveys & Independent Resurveys
Subdivisions
Public Land Survey System
Tracts, Mineral Claims, Special Surveys
Chapter 5 - Platting
General requirements for platting
County Recorder Requirements
Chapter 6 - Field Notes / Legal Descriptions
General Construction of legal descriptions
Chapter 7 - Easements and Right of Ways
Chapter 8 - Control Surveying
Chapter 9 - Topographic mapping
Chapter 10 - Definitions
Chapter 11 - Index of Case Law.
Wouldn't a manual serve our purpose to educated better than a "minimum standard"?
