Michigan Seminar Schedule

SPEAKER: DUANE BROWN, P.E., P.S.

This  course will include historical information on how projects were  completed (e.g., data gathering & compilation, calculations, plan  preparation, presentation,  and approval process), current issues and challenges (lack of  historical perspective, liability & ethical issues, increasing  complexity - regulations, involved parties, construction process,  financing, and client relationships), and trends for the future  (education, over-confidence  in technology, dealing with the morass of regulatory controls, building  & maintaining relationships, and protecting the  health/safety/welfare of the public).  Examples will be given from historical G.L.O and U.S.C.&G.S.  surveys.  Opinions will be offered on retracement survey methods in  metes-and-bounds tracts and platted subdivisions. Suggestions will be  provided on job set-up, record indexing & retrieval, plan &  drawing preparation, and establishing reliable survey procedures.

SPEAKER: GARY KENT, P.S.

Every professional surveyor across the Unites States knows the phrase “Follow in the Footsteps” as it relates to conducting a boundary retracement survey. But what does it really mean and what is the basis for following the footsteps? And exactly whose footsteps are we talking about? Surveyors also know the effect of the statute of frauds is that what is written in the conveyancing document is considered by the courts to be the highest and best expression of the parties’ intentions. But what happens when the evidence of the footsteps on the ground conflicts with the written title? What if there are seemingly no footsteps to follow? What then? In this program we will explore the concept of retracement, how it relates to and is dependent on the document of conveyance, and what controls when conflicts are inevitably encountered. When armed with a full understanding of the concept of retracement, surveyors will be much better equipped to help steer their clients (and their affected neighbors) away from the pain and cost of litigation, and towards an amicable solution based on well-placed confidence and understanding of their respective roles and responsibilities.

SPEAKER: GARY KENT, P.S.

Railroad Rights of Way – Interests, Rights, and Rail-to-Trails
Professional Surveyors frequently encounter railroad rights of way in their work as they retrace boundaries, deal with questions of seniority between public roads and railroads, address abandonments or reversionary rights, or guide clients on their needs for easements or licenses over railroad rights of way. In the process they often face confusion over the status of a railroad right of way: Is it a fee ownership or just an easement? Is it abandoned or just inactive? Is it active? How does one know? How does one find Railroad Valuation Maps and vesting deeds? What about "Rails to Trails?" In this session, we will review several significant Federal and Indiana Court decisions regarding railroad rights of way including Preseault v. Interstate Commerce Commission (U.S. Supreme Court, 1990), Consolidated Rail Corporation v. Lewellen (Indiana, 1997), Clark  v. CSX (Indiana, 2000) and the more recent Howard v. U.S. (Indiana,  2012). We will also exam the National Trails System Act of 1969 and its progeny in order to better understand the whole of the debate over "Rails to Trails" and how the standing of a railroad's right of way can be perplexing.