The property hereon lies completely within a jurisdiction which does not review or approve any plats or this type of plat prior to recording. RECORDATION OF THIS PLAT DOES NOT IMPLY APPROVAL OF ANY LOCAL JURISDICTION, AVAILABILITY OF PERMITS, COMPLIANCE WITH LOCAL REGULATIONS OR REQUIREMENTS, OR SUITABILITY FOR ANY USE OR PURPOSE OF THE LAND. Furthermore, the undersigned land surveyor certifies that this plat complies with the minimum technical standards for property surveys in Georgia as set forth in the rules and regulations of the Georgia Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors and as set forth in O.C.G.A. Section 15-6-67.

DeKalb County is reviewing and approving these types of plats. So, using certification (iv) is incorrect. There may be other counties in the state that do not review or approve sanitary sewer easement plats prior to recording. There may be circumstances, e.g. an ingress/egress easement, which DeKalb County may not review or approve. In those counties or circumstances, it could be appropriate to use certification (iv). But this situation is not one of those circumstances.

The following statement is found in O.C.G.A. § 15-6-67(c)(3)(B)(v): “Plats that depict existing or proposed easements for utilities or for conservation purposes may be recorded using the certification set forth in division (c)(3)(A)(iii) of this Code section, provided that there are no changes to any real property boundaries.” Certification (iii) states:

This plat is a retracement of an existing parcel or parcels of land and does not subdivide or create a new parcel or make any changes to any real property boundaries. The recording information of the documents, maps, plats, or other instruments which created the parcel or parcels are stated hereon. RECORDATION OF THIS PLAT DOES NOT IMPLY APPROVAL OF ANY LOCAL JURISDICTION, AVAILABILITY OF PERMITS, COMPLIANCE WITH LOCAL REGULATIONS OR REQUIREMENTS, OR SUITABILITY FOR ANY USE OR PURPOSE OF THE LAND. Furthermore, the undersigned land surveyor certifies that this plat complies with the minimum technical standards for property surveys in Georgia as set forth in the rules and regulations of the Georgia Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors and as set forth in O.C.G.A. Section 15-6-67.

Therefore, in counties such as DeKalb, which review these sanitary sewer easement plats, the correct certification to use is the Retracement Certification, provided there are no changes to the property boundaries. I would also argue that if there are not any changes to the property boundaries, then regardless of the county it would be appropriate to use the Retracement Certification for a utility easement plat.