Several hundred thousand dollars were spent nearly ten years ago to establish a recognized GIS monument network across Northern Kentucky. As time passed and NKAPC staff and others monitored the condition of the Kenton and Campbell County monuments, they witnessed destruction of several of them. Kenton and Campbell Fiscal Courts responded recently with ordinances that address the problem and provide funding for the network’s long-term integrity.
“These monuments are an asset to the counties,” said Dennis Gordon, FAICP, NKAPC’s executive director. “These ordinances were adopted to protect the monuments and the public investments that made them possible.”
The ordinances were supported strongly by the local surveying and engineering community. These groups depend on the accuracy of the monuments as a basis for new land ownership records.
The 212 monuments set in pairs two miles apart across Kenton and Campbell counties represent exact locations on the earth using degrees of longitude and latitude. The monument locations provide highly-accurate data and serve as the basis for quality reports and CAD drawings from land surveyors.
Seven monuments have been destroyed or removed in the past ten years; it costs almost $4,000 each to repair or replace them. LINK-GIS funds replaced six of them before the ordinance was implemented. Now, if monuments are destroyed, the ordinance calls for those who disrupt the monument network to fund the repairs.
“SD1 staff are providing oversight for the ordinances through administration of their land disturbance permit process. If construction activities will disturb any of these monuments, its staff will alert applicants of the need to comply with the counties’ ordinances,” Gordon said.
“This will help immensely because the only way NKAPC would know if one was going to be disturbed is if it was self-reported. They’re helping us with this process,” he concluded.
More information on the ordinances and what they require is available from NKAPC’s GIS staff.