Remonumentation / Monumentation

Leelanau County started its Remonumentation program in 1993, under Act 345 of 1990.  In 1990, the state legislator created a program to remonument all section corners in teh state and to provide for a statewide perpetuation of these corner's positions. Act 345 of 1990 was passed allowing for each county to apply for annual state grant for the perpetuation of the county's section corners.  This grant is funded by a portion of the recording fees for documents recorded at the Register of Deeds office in each county.  The County Representation (as defined by the Act) chairs a group of peers who review the remonumentation and maintenance of the county's section corners.  Planning Director Trudy Galla serves as the Administrator of the county's program. Vickie Brown of Leelanau Land Surveying serves as the County Representative.

Originally, the program was to be for a 20-year period, ending in 2013.  There are counties still in the process of monumenting public land survey (GLO) corners, so the program was extended.  Every county was required to submit a new County Plan in 2020 outlining what has been done and what corners will be done, and which corners will be omitted.  After the corners are completed, the county will go into "maintenance" phase of the program.  This phase will involve reviewing the public land survey corners already done.  Many will be in need of replacement.  

Definitions:

GLO corners include the public land survey corners set by the original surveyors when they went through the state back in the 1850's measuring and setting wood posts at the section corners.  They consist of:

• The 4 outside corners of each section
• The quarter corners of each section line
• Any meander corners set during the original 1850 survey - corners set on a section line where that line intersects a body of water. 

When there is no possibility of setting a meander corner or section corner in the place that the original surveyor set that corner, a witness corner is set at a favorable spot near the shoreline to monument that section line.