574 PARKS 



a periodical valuation of the complete land and structural improvements 

 would be questionable, it is probably best simply to record the accumulated 

 costs of such improvements to date. 



All this discussion is concerning a summary of a park and parkway 

 inventory and does not pertain to the inventory of material, supplies, equip- 

 ment, buildings and similar insurable property concerning which more will 

 be spoken later on. 



Land records. Continuing the discussion of the inventory as applied to 

 real estate, it is of sufficient importance to take the space here to describe 

 a method of recording, indexing and filing deeds, abstracts, land plats, etc. 

 The system here described is not the only one possible but the concrete 

 examples given will open up various possibilities to other cities and park 

 departments. 



There should be available an accurate land survey plat of each piece 

 of park property. In some cases the law requires that such a plat be on file 

 with the registrar of deeds of the local county. In these cases the number 

 of copies of each plat is provided for by the law or the registrar of deeds 

 himself and these plats are usually required to be of a uniform size. Usually 

 there appears on the plat (a} a correct representation of a true survey of 

 the park itself drawn to some arbitrary scale sufficiently large to accurately 

 show all details; (b) a dedication of the form shown below; (c) surveyor's 

 certificate; (d) the usual stamps and seals of the registrar of deeds office. 



The dedication usually reads something like the following: 



"I hereby certify that the Board of Park Commissioners of the City 



of , owners of the following described property situated 



in the County of , State of , to wit: 



(Description of property) 



has caused the same to be surveyed and platted as (official name of park) 

 said land being colored ..on the plat. 



Secretary, Board of Park Commissioners." 



The surveyor's certificate usually reads as follows: 



"I do hereby certify that I have surveyed the property described on 

 this plat as (official name of park), that this plat is a correct representation 

 of said survey; that all distances are correctly shown on the plat in feet 

 and decimals of a foot; that the monuments for guidance of future surveys 

 have been correctly placed in the ground as shown on the plat and that 

 the outside boundary lines are correctly designated on the plat. 



Surveyor." 



