Colorado § 38-51-105 - Monumentation of subdivisions.

§ 38-51-105. Monumentation of subdivisions.

(1) (a) Prior to recording a plat, the external boundaries of any platted subdivisions shall be monumented on the ground by reasonably permanent monuments solidly embedded in the ground.

(b) A durable cap bearing the license number of the professional land surveyor responsible for the establishment of the monument shall be affixed securely to the top of each such monument embedded pursuant to this subsection (1).

(c) Monuments shall be set no more than fourteen hundred feet apart along any straight boundary line, at all angle points, at the beginning, end, and points of change of direction or change of radius of any curved boundaries defined by circular arcs, and at the beginning and end of any spiral curve.

(2) The professional land surveyor who prepares the original subdivision plat, exemption plat, or subdivision exemption plat shall provide external boundary monuments as required in subsection (1) of this section.

(3) (a) Before a sales contract for any lot, tract, or parcel within a subdivision is executed, all boundaries of the block within which such lot, tract, or parcel is located shall be marked with monuments in accordance with subsection (1) of this section.

(b) The seller of the lot, section, or parcel shall provide for the services of a professional land surveyor to establish block monumentation and lot markers as required pursuant to subsection (4) of this section.

(4) (a) Block monumentation may be set on the center lines of streets or on offset lines from such streets as designated on the recorded plat.

(b) The corners of any lot, tract, or parcel sold separately shall be marked within one year of the effective date of the sales contract.

(c) For any structure to be built on a lot, tract, or parcel before the corners have been marked pursuant to this section, the seller of such lot, tract, or parcel shall retain a professional land surveyor to establish control lines on the ground as necessary to assure the proper location of the structure.

(5) For any complete block sold as a unit, it shall become the responsibility of the subsequent seller of any separate lot, tract, or parcel within such block to retain a professional land surveyor to establish lot markers as required pursuant to subsection (4) of this section.

(6) For any points designated in subsection (1), (2), or (3) of this section that fall on solid bedrock, concrete, stone curbs, gutters, or walks, a durable metal disk or cap shall be securely anchored in the rock or concrete and stamped with the license number of the professional land surveyor responsible for the establishment of the monument or marker.

(7) (a) If any monuments or markers required by subsection (1), (2), or (3) of this section cannot practicably be set because of steep terrain, water, marsh, or existing structures; or if they would be lost as a result of proposed street, road, or other construction; or they cannot be safely set due to their position on a traveled road within a federal, state, or other public right-of-way, one or more reference monuments shall be set.

(b) (I) The letters "RM" or "WC" shall be affixed to the monument in addition to the surveyor's license number.

(II) For purposes of this paragraph (b), "RM" means reference monument and "WC" means witness corner.

(c) Reference monuments shall be set as close as practicable to the true corner and shall meet the same physical standards required to set the true corner.

(d) If only one reference monument is used, such reference monument shall be set on the actual boundary line or a prolongation thereof, otherwise at least two reference monuments shall be set.

(8) For any monument required by this section which marks the location of a section corner, quarter section corner, or sixteenth section corner, such monument shall meet the physical standards specified by rule and regulation promulgated by the board pursuant to section 24-4-103, C.R.S.

(9) (a) The top of the monument for any corner required by this section which is within the traffic area of a publicly named dedicated or deeded street, road, or highway shall be placed one-half foot below the roadway surface.

(b) If the roadway surface is pavement two inches thick or greater, the monument shall include a monument box the top of which shall be set flush with the surface of the pavement.

(10) No marker required by this section shall bear the license number of more than one professional land surveyor but may bear the name of an individual surveyor or surveying firm in addition to the required license number.

Source: L. 94: Entire article R&RE, p. 1518, § 47, effective July 1. L. 2004: (1)(b), (6), (7)(b)(I), and (10) amended, p. 1317, § 73, effective May 28. L. 2013: (6) amended, (SB 13-161), ch. 356, p. 2094, § 37, effective July 1. L. 2026: (7)(a) amended, (SB 26-025), ch. 57, p. 242, § 2, effective August 12.

Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 38-51-101, as it existed prior to 1994.

ANNOTATION

District court correctly determined location of disputed boundary line. Here, the parties do not dispute that the pertinent monuments are located consistently with each other. Hence, there is no need to decide whether the rule of the precedence of the monuments has any exception under Colorado law because the only conflict here is between the location of the monuments on the ground and the distance call and the boundary line depiction on the plat. Trial court correctly determined that the monuments controlled the location of the boundary line and they superseded any inconsistent distance call or boundary line referred to or depicted in the subdivision plat. Morales v. CAMB, 160 P.3d 373 (Colo. App. 2007).