Lower Mainland B.C. Land Surveyors Group

Meeting Minutes

Spring Meeting Thursday June 1st, 2017

Burnaby, BC

  • Meeting Commence – 3.10
  • Chairperson address – EvgenyPetushkov
  • Welcome
  • Introductions
  • Brian Brown, President
  • Chris Cryderman, Board Member
  • Kelly Stofer, Secretary
  • Life members
  • LSTs

CPD—“Posting Plan Issues” presented by Kelly Stofer, Gordon Gamble, and Mike Thomson.

  • Update from ABCLS – Kelly Stofer
  • 25 year pin presented: Al Zacharias
  • Association activities
  • New board members are attending first board meeting next week.
  • Bylaw amendments. Today is the day the bylaws take effect, encourage you to download fresh copy.
  • 4 motions passed under new business at the AGM, to be discussed by board next week.
  • Strategic plan. Strategic plan workshop happening in Sidney next week.
  • 2018 AGM, book early.
  • Member demographics (mentioned that 5.5% of members are women, something to think about; we could do better).
  • Exam sitting overview; only 2 PAIs next week, which is quite a drop from last year.
  • Field project 3 has been a sticking point for many. Get your article students going on their projects as soon as they sign their papers.
  • Complaints: 5 active files, a few having to do with posting plans.

Discussion points:

  • Brian Brown – We may not have many female land surveyors, but we still have many more than most associations.
  • Field project 3 is relates to approvals. It seems there is a struggle to find ones that meet the approval requirements.
  • Comments about why it may be an issue:
  • Issues could be arising from the length of the approval process,
  • Could be a lot of pressure on this area of the industry, with many people wanting to work in the area.
  • Update from LTSA - Mike Thomson
  • Introducing Peter Haas, trying to get deputies to come out to the group meetings for this round.
  • PMBC second last increment published, total publish expected at the end of June.
  • Asking to hear if there is a change in business levels. 27% less plans filed than May last year.
  • Organizationally, not a lot of change since the AGM. Retirement of Linda Williamson, after about 40 years. Fixed date for Jeff Beddoes’ retirement, end of March 2018.
  • LTSA board meetings next week.
  • PMBC – Happy and satisfied with how land surveyors have adapted and adopted. Had some hiccups with submissions, but we’re getting better and better. Only one land surveyor that reached the furthest step of submissions not being submitted, where a letter has gone out. Working through common defects and raising awareness about how to fix them.
  • Show of hands, more webinars or training required on defects? ~10% show of hands.
  • Want to get to the stage where 48 hours for data to get turned around after plan registration.
  • Enhancements (coming out July 9) – Will be able to plan preview and misc. notes searches in PMBC
  • If you have any ideas or suggestions, Mike or the advisory task force are happy to take them.
  • Project ACE (Advanced Customer Enhancement) – Can use scan on demand for documents in LTO. (DFs, etc.), more during fall meeting. Auto-population of forms and other typographical error reduction.
  • Approving Officers Workshop—Approvals are different in different parts of the province. Many approving officers don’t get the proper training. May not have a high level of understanding and depth, with an increased amount of misunderstanding. Spend some time with your approving officers and help them understand the work of a land surveyor, it will help land surveyors and approving officers.
  • GeoBC—New vertical datum adoption set for Jan. 1, 2018. There will be opportunities on BC Bid for inspections and restorations of monuments and GPS surveys in certain ISAs.
  • Update from LTSA Liaison Committee – Hans Troelsen
  • Overview of committee
  • Raised some questions aboutmyLTSA email records/ correspondence. Many of these changes will be looked at during Project ACE initiatives.
  • E-plan alterations (other than by original signatory), if a plan is defected and changes are made, but the original land surveyor is not available. This would allow the SPC Form to be signed by a secondary land surveyor, who is responsible for only the portion amended under that land surveyor’s supervision.
  • Air space remainders, hooks and tubular connectors. If you’re working on airspace with complex pieces and connectors, members are reminded to converse with senior staff at LTSA to get things worked out.
  • Nanaimo strata plans, lack of vertically defined strata plans. “Hybrid” strata plans that look like building stratas that extend to include “yard area”, without adequate definition of the vertical extents of these areas. Being submitted without local approving officer signatures.
  • “Pursuant to” statements on plans – is becoming of more interest and importance. If you need advice or guidance, feel free to seek it out from the Practice Advisory Committee when it regards complex statutes (Transportation Act, Expropriation Act, etc.)
  • Be aware when using PMBC coordinate data for field research, that the positional accuracy of the data varies based on how the original uploaded information was captured.
  • Discussion about grammatical commas and if they should be included in descriptions of titles. Recommendation not to try to enhance the understanding of titles by adding commas and spaces, and to follow the titles the way they’re provided.
  • If you’re doing a strata plan conversion, advise those preparing the documents that there are ancillary documents and signatures that may be required.
  • LTSA Liaison committee minutes have been used to direct land surveyors to clarification. Until now the minutes have been placed on ABCLS site chronologically. Will try to download them into LTSA Surveyor General Division knowledge base in a way that can be sorted and organized more intuitively.
  • Amount of work of this committee is diminishing, meaning the group is better at understanding what needs to be done and how to do it, and that the communication with the LTSA service center is working.
  • Update from CPD Committee – EvgenyPetushkov (for Dan Machon)
  • CPD program – now in the 2rd year of 3 year cycle.
  • ~90% of members have recorded their hours for 2016 year
  • AGM
  • Thanks to members for attending AGM CPD sessions. PowerPoint slides from most of the seminars are now available on ABCLS website.
  • Survey monkey feedback has been reviewed. The feedback will be considered for the 2018 AGM CPD sessions
  • GIRBC – Will be offered in Oct/ Nov this year, with a 3rd day on boundary resolution issues.
  • PMBC – CPD opportunity for online seminar “ParcelMap BC Search for Land Surveyors”
  • Outline of upcoming CPD opportunities
  • If you have suggestions for CPD opportunities, please speak with a CPD committee representative

Discussion points:

  • Hans –Use of cannabisbeing used in public ie. on the job, anticipating legalization. Recommendation on getting legal advice for employers and management regarding how to deal with employees using cannabis on the job, and disciplinary actions that can be taken. Being proactive on how to establish business rules in advance.

Action Item: EvgenyPetushkov to look into this discussion point and if we are able to get legal advice on the issue.

  • New Business
  • EvgenyPetushkov—Harry Badial elected as Lower Mainland Group secretary
  • EvgenyPetushkov—LMG Website

Discussion points:

  • Why do we need a website?
  • Not necessarily a website, but a place to find materials, events, bylaws for the regional group. Could be a section of the ABCLS website.
  • Main reasons for a standalone website:
  • ABCLS website needs work
  • Who will have the responsibility of updating the website and materials, perhaps it should be someone in our group rather than burdening someone at the Association office.
  • Association and Board will be in talks about the website following the motion passed at the 2017 AGM, and there may be some discussion at the strategic meeting. Forward recommendations and ideas to Chad Rintoul.

Action Item, Motion:Hans Troelsen–The Lower Mainland Regional Group Chairis requestedto forward an expression of interest to the Association Board requesting our regional group have a sub-website within the updated Association website.

Harry Hickman – seconded, Motion Passed.

  • Stolen Equipment—The person that was stealing survey equipment is at large again
  • Equipment other than total stations is being stolen around the lower mainland
  • Spatial Solutions explained that only equipment with PIN security was recovered, recommendation to enable PIN function on applicable equipment.
  • VPD requires a strong set of evidence for each theft to take any sort of action, so the reliance on VPD is low.
  • Next Meeting: Thursday September 29, 2017
  • Meeting Adjournment – 6:50