By Eric Dexheimer
March 3, 2009
Austin American-Statesman, Austin, TX
It’s not often we get to use the words “investigation” and “Texas Board of Professional Land Surveying” in the same sentence.
At last.
Typically, the state surveying board flies well below the public radar. The vast majority of its enforcement actions involve low-level boundary disputes, about 60 a year.
But late last month the agency recommended an unusually large $6,000 fine for each of two South Texas surveyors accused of violating state rules. The mistakes the surveyors are accused of making, however, will probably end up costing a couple dozen Texas homeowners hundreds of thousands of dollars.
First, the history, courtesy of TBPLS investigator Garey Gilley: Years ago, the Federal Emergency Management Agency let cities and counties choose if they wanted to participate in its flood insurance program. Those that did agreed not to permit any buildings below what came to be known as the base flood level.
Jefferson County decided that the ground floor of structures had to be at least one foot above base flood elevation (also known as the 100-year flood plain). Structures built above that mark were not required to have flood insurance. Local surveyors pinpointed the base flood elevation using 30-year-old federal measurements inscribed on concrete-and-brass monuments erected by the National Geodetic Survey.
In the mid-1980s, FEMA published a new flood insurance rate map, but with different measurements. It recalculated the base flood level based on a new study showing that the Beaumont-area flood plain had actually shifted about three feet since the federal government’s first measurements in the 1950s.
But, Gilley says, local surveyors didn’t know about the new map. They continued to rely on the old NGS elevation numbers. Unfortunately, that meant that people who thought their new homes were being built above flood level were actually building two feet below it.
Gilley says about 20 homes near LaBelle were mis-constructed. “That’s what got the surveyors in trouble,” he says. “They never looked at the new FEMA map.”
The three-foot difference became crystal clear in 2008, when Hurricane Ike hit the Texas coast. Some residents whose homes should have been above the flooding found themselves wading in water instead.
Worse, because of the wrong measurements, they had not bought flood insurance. And now that the homes were in a recognized flood plain, FEMA would not permit them to be rebuilt.
Although two surveyors — Soutex Surveyors Inc., of Port Arthur and Harold F. Locke and Associates, of Port Neches — are the current target of the Board of Professional Land Surveying action (see the agency’s report here) Gilley says other surveyors are being investigated for making the same expensive mistake. The three-foot discrepancy has also spawned a half-dozen lawsuits against Soutex.
According to Gilley, there are many similar areas across Texas, where, unbeknownst to homeowners, new FEMA maps disagree with old federal measurements. “There are absolutely more situations like this,” he says.
Showing posts with label storm surge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label storm surge. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Surveyors Face Penalties for Elevation Certificates
By Jessica Holloway
KFDM-TV News - Beaumont,Texas,USA
February 9, 2009 - 6:34 PM
Two Southeast Texas surveyors will be penalized for mistakes in determining the elevation of homes in West Jefferson County. KFDM News has learned one of those surveyors is Anthony Leger from SouTex surveyors in Port Arthur. The board has not released the name of the other surveyor but decided they both broke at least five board rules.
The US Geological Survey identifies benchmarks and sets elevations. FEMA uses that information for its flood maps. Surveyors are required to use FEMA's numbers. In this case, FEMA changed the elevation of areas in Jefferson County by three feet. However, many surveyors were not made aware of the change. At least 160 homeowners want to take advantage of a government buy-out because of questions about elevation.
"FEMA didn't bother telling anybody about it. They were relying on information they had. It was erroneous," said Tom Roebuck.
Many people who live in the Country Road Estates neighborhood found out their home elevations were off by three feet. One of the people who helped bring that to light was in fact, Anthony Leger. Now he and others could face penalties, ranging from a fine all the way to the maximum, license revocation. Garey Gilley with the Texas Board of Land Surveying says that's unlikely.
"I do not believe it will be the maximum. I assure you it will not be revocation of license. We'd have to demonstrate they knowingly disregarded over time," said Garey Gilley.
Staff members should make a final decision by Tuesday. Others who want to file complaints can do so by filling out a complaint form on-line at the board's website. If the surveyors are found in violation, they'll face the same penalties.
KFDM-TV News - Beaumont,Texas,USA
February 9, 2009 - 6:34 PM
Two Southeast Texas surveyors will be penalized for mistakes in determining the elevation of homes in West Jefferson County. KFDM News has learned one of those surveyors is Anthony Leger from SouTex surveyors in Port Arthur. The board has not released the name of the other surveyor but decided they both broke at least five board rules.
The US Geological Survey identifies benchmarks and sets elevations. FEMA uses that information for its flood maps. Surveyors are required to use FEMA's numbers. In this case, FEMA changed the elevation of areas in Jefferson County by three feet. However, many surveyors were not made aware of the change. At least 160 homeowners want to take advantage of a government buy-out because of questions about elevation.
"FEMA didn't bother telling anybody about it. They were relying on information they had. It was erroneous," said Tom Roebuck.
Many people who live in the Country Road Estates neighborhood found out their home elevations were off by three feet. One of the people who helped bring that to light was in fact, Anthony Leger. Now he and others could face penalties, ranging from a fine all the way to the maximum, license revocation. Garey Gilley with the Texas Board of Land Surveying says that's unlikely.
"I do not believe it will be the maximum. I assure you it will not be revocation of license. We'd have to demonstrate they knowingly disregarded over time," said Garey Gilley.
Staff members should make a final decision by Tuesday. Others who want to file complaints can do so by filling out a complaint form on-line at the board's website. If the surveyors are found in violation, they'll face the same penalties.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Surveyors face punishment for elevation errors
The Texas Board of Land Surveying met in Austin Friday. It's decided two Southeast Texas surveyors violated at least five board rules. ...
Surveyors face punishment for elevation errors
KFDM-TV News - Beaumont,Texas,USA
February 6, 2009
Jessica Holloway
KFDM News has learned two Southeast Texas surveyors who shot elevations of homes in West Jefferson County could face punishment for how they carried out their work. The Texas Board of Land Surveying met in Austin Friday.
It's decided two Southeast Texas surveyors violated at least five board rules.
The surveyors filed elevation certificates for families living in the Labelle-Fannett area of West Jefferson County. After Hurricane Ike, homeowners in that area found out their elevations were off, in some cases three feet lower than they thought. As a result, many people in Country Road Estates had several feet of water inside their homes. Some lost everything.
A few homeowners have filed civil lawsuits against their surveyors. They want to recoup the 25% of the lost value of their homes not covered by FEMA.
Monday two staff members from the board will decide the appropriate disciplinary action. That could include a fine or the maximum penalty, losing their licenses. The two surveyors have the option of telling their side of the story before the Texas Attorney General. The board will have the final say.
As for any other property owners who file a complaint against a surveyor, those complaints will be investigated by the board and if it rules against the surveyers, the same range of punishment is guaranteed.
Surveyors face punishment for elevation errors
KFDM-TV News - Beaumont,Texas,USA
February 6, 2009
Jessica Holloway
KFDM News has learned two Southeast Texas surveyors who shot elevations of homes in West Jefferson County could face punishment for how they carried out their work. The Texas Board of Land Surveying met in Austin Friday.
It's decided two Southeast Texas surveyors violated at least five board rules.
The surveyors filed elevation certificates for families living in the Labelle-Fannett area of West Jefferson County. After Hurricane Ike, homeowners in that area found out their elevations were off, in some cases three feet lower than they thought. As a result, many people in Country Road Estates had several feet of water inside their homes. Some lost everything.
A few homeowners have filed civil lawsuits against their surveyors. They want to recoup the 25% of the lost value of their homes not covered by FEMA.
Monday two staff members from the board will decide the appropriate disciplinary action. That could include a fine or the maximum penalty, losing their licenses. The two surveyors have the option of telling their side of the story before the Texas Attorney General. The board will have the final say.
As for any other property owners who file a complaint against a surveyor, those complaints will be investigated by the board and if it rules against the surveyers, the same range of punishment is guaranteed.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Jefferson County homeowner claims incorrect survey caused home to flood
Jefferson County homeowner claims incorrect survey caused home to ...
Beaumont Enterprise - Beaumont,tx,USA
Majors, 43, of Port Neches, will present a complaint against Soutex Surveyors, Inc. of Port Arthur to the Texas Board of Professional Land Surveying for ...
http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/local/jefferson_county_homeowner_claims_incorrect_survey_caused_home_to_flood_02-05-2009.html
Jefferson County homeowner claims incorrect survey caused home to flood
By KYLE PEVETO
February, 5, 2009
James Majors' Hillebrandt Acres cabin would not have flooded if surveyors who established his property's elevation had done their homework, the homeowner said.
Majors, 43, of Port Neches, will present a complaint against Soutex Surveyors, Inc. of Port Arthur to the Texas Board of Professional Land Surveying for issuing an incorrect elevation certificate for his home on Hillebrandt Bayou in 2003.
The surveyors acted in good faith, the company president said, but the error may be rooted in a natural phenomenon discovered last year.
"I want someone to hold up to their objectives, to say, 'I made a mistake'," Majors said by phone Thursday.
In 1996, Majors hired Soutex to complete a property survey for his cabin in the Hillebrandt Acres subdivision near the LaBelle area in unincorporated Jefferson County. Before building a cabin on the property along Hillebrandt Bayou, he wanted to find the property's elevation above sea level so he could research the historical floods that hit the area and build above that point.
The survey placed his yard at 10 feet above mean sea level, according to his complaint, and in 2003, he began building almost 3 feet higher than that to rise above the historical flood level in the area.
In July 2003, Soutex created Majors a final elevation certificate he could file with Jefferson County to receive final permits, placing his home's bottom floor at 12.9 feet.
At that level, the Hurricane Ike storm surge should have hit more than a foot below the cabin's bottom floor.
Majors contacted Soutex to ask about the discrepancy, and the survey company's president, Anthony Leger, told him about other homes in the Country Road Estates area across Hillebrandt Bayou that had similar problems.
Dozens of homes in the LaBelle area were lower than their elevation certificates said, and after the storm, many were too low to get building permits from Jefferson County, because they were below the 100-year flood plain. Majors' home was above the 100-year level. Still, the storm surge pushed more than a foot of water into his house.
For 30 years, property elevation in the area of Country Road Estates and other homes in the LaBelle area had been produced using data from a federal monument - a brass disk - placed a little more than two miles northwest of Port Acres, Leger wrote in a letter to Jefferson County in May 2008.
That monument, placed by the National Geodetic Survey in 1954, placed the monument's elevation at 6.32 feet above sea level, Ronnie Taylor of the National Geodetic Survey told The Enterprise in late December.
Federal surveyors checked the area again in the early 1980s for FEMA flood maps, and the benchmark's elevation was 3.1 feet lower.
Professional surveyors cannot take the time to establish mean sea level each time they shoot a survey, Leger said, so they rely on government data from the hundreds of thousands of benchmarks across the country. The benchmark's level remained too high in the government record.
Leger said the benchmark's level could account for incorrect elevations throughout LaBelle. When he learned of the problem in spring 2008, he wrote a letter to the county.
The benchmark's elevation change may be caused by subsidence - the sinking of soil often caused by oil drilling or groundwater pumping in an area. A 1983 FEMA flood study said in the area where the benchmark lay, "the subsidence is about 3 feet."
Majors said the surveyors should have known about the benchmark's elevation change and should have not have used data from the benchmark that changed.
"I did my homework (while building the house)," Majors said. "Why didn't they do theirs?"
Surveyors rely on published data from the monuments, Leger said, unless the benchmarks prove incorrect.
"It's a normal practice, yes, sir," Leger said. "It's just unfortunate that LaBelle is in that situation."
The surveying board will meet at 9 a.m. in Austin and may issue its findings at a later meeting. The board can revoke or suspend surveyors' licenses.
Beaumont Enterprise - Beaumont,tx,USA
Majors, 43, of Port Neches, will present a complaint against Soutex Surveyors, Inc. of Port Arthur to the Texas Board of Professional Land Surveying for ...
http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/local/jefferson_county_homeowner_claims_incorrect_survey_caused_home_to_flood_02-05-2009.html
Jefferson County homeowner claims incorrect survey caused home to flood
By KYLE PEVETO
February, 5, 2009
James Majors' Hillebrandt Acres cabin would not have flooded if surveyors who established his property's elevation had done their homework, the homeowner said.
Majors, 43, of Port Neches, will present a complaint against Soutex Surveyors, Inc. of Port Arthur to the Texas Board of Professional Land Surveying for issuing an incorrect elevation certificate for his home on Hillebrandt Bayou in 2003.
The surveyors acted in good faith, the company president said, but the error may be rooted in a natural phenomenon discovered last year.
"I want someone to hold up to their objectives, to say, 'I made a mistake'," Majors said by phone Thursday.
In 1996, Majors hired Soutex to complete a property survey for his cabin in the Hillebrandt Acres subdivision near the LaBelle area in unincorporated Jefferson County. Before building a cabin on the property along Hillebrandt Bayou, he wanted to find the property's elevation above sea level so he could research the historical floods that hit the area and build above that point.
The survey placed his yard at 10 feet above mean sea level, according to his complaint, and in 2003, he began building almost 3 feet higher than that to rise above the historical flood level in the area.
In July 2003, Soutex created Majors a final elevation certificate he could file with Jefferson County to receive final permits, placing his home's bottom floor at 12.9 feet.
At that level, the Hurricane Ike storm surge should have hit more than a foot below the cabin's bottom floor.
Majors contacted Soutex to ask about the discrepancy, and the survey company's president, Anthony Leger, told him about other homes in the Country Road Estates area across Hillebrandt Bayou that had similar problems.
Dozens of homes in the LaBelle area were lower than their elevation certificates said, and after the storm, many were too low to get building permits from Jefferson County, because they were below the 100-year flood plain. Majors' home was above the 100-year level. Still, the storm surge pushed more than a foot of water into his house.
For 30 years, property elevation in the area of Country Road Estates and other homes in the LaBelle area had been produced using data from a federal monument - a brass disk - placed a little more than two miles northwest of Port Acres, Leger wrote in a letter to Jefferson County in May 2008.
That monument, placed by the National Geodetic Survey in 1954, placed the monument's elevation at 6.32 feet above sea level, Ronnie Taylor of the National Geodetic Survey told The Enterprise in late December.
Federal surveyors checked the area again in the early 1980s for FEMA flood maps, and the benchmark's elevation was 3.1 feet lower.
Professional surveyors cannot take the time to establish mean sea level each time they shoot a survey, Leger said, so they rely on government data from the hundreds of thousands of benchmarks across the country. The benchmark's level remained too high in the government record.
Leger said the benchmark's level could account for incorrect elevations throughout LaBelle. When he learned of the problem in spring 2008, he wrote a letter to the county.
The benchmark's elevation change may be caused by subsidence - the sinking of soil often caused by oil drilling or groundwater pumping in an area. A 1983 FEMA flood study said in the area where the benchmark lay, "the subsidence is about 3 feet."
Majors said the surveyors should have known about the benchmark's elevation change and should have not have used data from the benchmark that changed.
"I did my homework (while building the house)," Majors said. "Why didn't they do theirs?"
Surveyors rely on published data from the monuments, Leger said, unless the benchmarks prove incorrect.
"It's a normal practice, yes, sir," Leger said. "It's just unfortunate that LaBelle is in that situation."
The surveying board will meet at 9 a.m. in Austin and may issue its findings at a later meeting. The board can revoke or suspend surveyors' licenses.
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