Title 11 . Natural Resources

Chapter 53 . (No Regulations Filed)

Section 900. Definitions

11 AAC 53.900. Definitions

Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, in this chapter

(1) "adjacent" means near but not necessarily touching;

(2) "aliquot parts" means land description within a rectangular survey system, as established by the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, or the division, using the section method of describing parcels of land by half sections, quarter sections, or any further division into equal halves or quarters with no remainder;

(3) "arterial road" means a road that is used primarily for through traffic, as opposed to access to adjacent land;

(4) "bearing object" means any object, other than trees and monuments, that may be used by the state as a primary monument accessory;

(5) "cadastral rectangular survey" means a survey that defines the rectangular system of surveys as accomplished by the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, or the division; the survey may or may not be identical with the protracted system of rectangular surveys, as administratively approved on official protraction diagrams;

(6) "coastline" means the line of mean low water along that portion of the coast that is in direct contact with the sea, and the line marking the seaward limits of inland water;

(7) "coastal water" means water along the coast of Alaska influenced by the tides;

(8) "course" means bearing and distances of a boundary or survey line, expressed to the accuracy used in the class of survey being conducted;

(9) "geodetic coordinates" means the quantities of latitude and longitude that define the position of a point on the surface of the earth, with respect to the reference spheroid; they are also called "geographic coordinates" (based on Clark's spheroid of 1866, as corrected for Alaska in 1927);

(10) "geodetic survey" means a survey in which account is taken of the shape and size of the earth; geodetic surveys are usually prescribed where the area or distances involved are so great that results of desired accuracy and precision can be obtained only by the process of geodetic surveying;

(11) "horizontal control" means control with horizontal positions only; the positions may be referenced to the geographic meridians or to other lines of reference, such as plane coordinate axes;

(12) "land survey" or "survey" means the process of determining boundaries and areas of land parcels on the ground;

(13) "limits of error" means the maximum permissible error, as expressed in a linear ratio establishing the mathematical precision of distances and angles assigned to control the accuracy standards of a survey;

(14) "mean high water" means the tidal datum plane of the average of all the high tides, as would be established by the National Geodetic Survey, at any place subject to tidal influence;

(15) "mean high water line" means the intersection of the datum plane of mean high water with the shore;

(16) "mean low water" means the tidal datum plane of the average of the low tides, as would be established by the National Geodetic Survey, at any place subject to tidal influence;

(17) "mean lower low water" means the tidal datum plane of the average of the lower of the two low waters of each day, as would be established by the National Geodetic Survey, at any place subject to tidal influence;

(18) "to meander" a water body means to establish courses along the ordinary, or mean, high water mark between land and water boundaries for segregation of upland and shoreland underlying state navigable or public water;

(19) "metes and bounds survey" means a survey that is accomplished from computed courses, such as shown on a preliminary or final plat;

(20) "monument" means the permanent, physical item placed or existing in the ground at a corner position to define and mark the boundaries of a parcel of land;

(21) "navigable water" has the same meaning as in AS 38.05.365 (22);

(22) "offshore" means submerged land lying seaward from the line of mean low tide;

(23) "ordinary high water mark" means the mark along the bank or shore up to which the presence and action of the nontidal water are so common and usual, and so long continued in all ordinary years, as to leave a natural line impressed on the bank or shore and indicated by erosion, shelving, changes in soil characteristics, destruction of terrestrial vegetation, or other distinctive physical characteristics;

(24) "paper plat" means essentially the same as an actual survey plat, except that the pertinent data and courses are derived from a compilation of official survey data and no actual field survey was accomplished;

(25) "public access easement" means an easement that is identified to allow access by the public, including access to private property by the owners of that private property and their invitees, and that may be used for any mode of transportation commonly employed for access purposes, subject to any restrictions noted on the plat, deed, or other legally applicable document;

(26) "public water" has the same meaning as in AS 38.05.365 (23);

(27) "quarter-quarter section" means one-sixteenth of a normal section, formed by dividing a quarter section into four parts by lines connecting the midpoints of opposite sides, and containing 40 acres, more or less;

(28) "rectangular survey system" means a system of surveys in which an area is divided by a base line intersected at right angles by a principal meridian, with the intersection termed the initial point from which the partitions are subdivided into equal size townships, each containing 36 sections of land;

(29) Repealed 7/5/2001.

(30) "residential road" means a road that is primarily for traffic within a residential subdivision;

(31) "state plane coordinates" means the plane rectangular coordinate system established by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (now National Geodetic Survey) for use in defining positions of geodetic stations in terms of plane rectangular (X and Y) coordinates;

(32) "shoreland" means land belonging to the state that is covered by tidal or nontidal water that is navigable or nonnavigable under the laws of the United States, or the state, up to the mean or ordinary high water mark, and as may be modified by accretion, erosion, or reliction;

(33) "subdivision" has the same meaning as in AS 40.15.900 ;

(34) "submerged lands" has the same meaning as in AS 38.05.365 (17);

(35) "supplemental cadastral survey" means the establishment of additional cadastral survey boundaries within an existing cadastral survey;

(36) "survey plat" means a diagram drawn to scale, showing all essential data and courses pertaining to the boundaries and subdivision of a tract of land, as determined by survey or protraction;

(37) "surveyor," "registered surveyor," or "professional land surveyor" means a person who has been registered by the State of Alaska Board of Registration for Architects, Engineers and Land Surveyors to currently practice land surveying in Alaska in conformance with AS 08.48;

(38) "tideland" means the same thing as "tidelands" as defined in AS 38.05.365 (18);

(39) "tract" means a lot or parcel of land, and especially an odd-sized parcel within a section, such as on the west side of the west tier of sections in a township;

(40) "true bearing" means the direction of one point or object, with respect to another, where the direction of the line is expressed by the acute horizontal angle with respect to the celestial meridian; the reference direction may be north or south with reference to the true geodetic meridian; typical bearings are N. 6ΓΈ 10'15" W. & S. 17ΓΈ 10'30" E.;

(41) "vertical control" means the measurements taken by surveying methods for the determination of elevation only with respect to an imaginary level surface, usually mean sea level;

(42) "amended plat" means a plat of record that is corrected and re-recorded to correct a technical error that does not affect acreage, property lines, or valid existing rights;

(43) "block" means a group of lots existing within well-defined and fixed boundaries, usually being an area surrounded by streets or by physical barriers, and having an assigned number or letter;

(44) "commissioner" means the commissioner of natural resources;

(45) "controlling exterior corner" means a corner on the exterior boundary of a subdivision that is an angle point or a point of curvature;

(46) "dedicate" means to grant or convey into public ownership for public use; "dedicate" includes the designation of a public area on a plat;

(47) "department" means the Department of Natural Resources;

(48) "lot" means the smallest portion of a subdivision, constituting a single parcel, division, or piece of land intended for sale or dedication as a single unit;

(49) "lot summary" means a document showing bearings and distances used to compute parcel area and showing closure;

(50) "meander line" means the traverse run at the line of mean high water or ordinary high water of a permanent natural body of water, surveyed not as a boundary, but to define generally the sinuosities of the bank or shoreline and to determine the approximate quantity of land remaining after segregation of the water area;

(51) "parent parcel" means the original tract from which a parcel is being created by subdivision;

(52) "replat" means the redelineation of one or more existing lots, blocks, tracts, or parcels of a previously recorded subdivision or other survey that involves the change of property lines or, in the case of a vacation, the altering or eliminating of dedicated streets, easements, or public areas.

History: Eff. 3/27/80, Register 73; am 7/5/2001, Register 159

Authority: AS 38.04.045

AS 38.05.020

AS 38.05.035

AS 40.15.330

AS 40.15.370

Editor's note: As of Register 168 (January 2004) the regulations attorney made technical revisions under AS 44.62.125 (b) (6), to 11 AAC 53.900.

As of Register 173 (April 2005), the regulations attorney made a technical revision under AS 44.62.125 (b)(6), to 11 AAC 53.900.