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6 <br /> REQUEST FOR PROPERTY TAX REFUND <br /> John C. Guibert and Judith K. Guibert <br /> 4316 Arrowhead Trail; Hillsborough,NC 27278 (PIN#9857757373) <br /> March 13,2019 <br /> This Plat showed: <br /> • Elevation contours for both the 615' and 620' elevations <br /> • That,the land existing within those contours was 0.30 acres in size <br /> • That the land existing above elevation contour 620' was 1.60 acres in size <br /> • That the total land shown for Lot 10 was 1.90 acres in size. <br /> This appears to have been a good faith attempt to resolve any current or future questions regarding the <br /> ownership and taxation of the land within the 615' and 620' elevation levels on Arrowhead Lot 10. This <br /> Plat was apparently"rejected"by County staff—apparently due to insufficient level of detail or other <br /> errors made (clerical or otherwise)by the surveyor and/or the recorder of the Plat. As a result,the Plat of <br /> record remained the erroneous Plat Book 26, Page 73 mentioned above. It appears that similar <br /> "rejections"were made for the similarly conducted and recorded Plats for all of the Arrowhead <br /> Subdivision Lots. <br /> It is not known what efforts, if any,the County made to ensure that such rejections and the reasons for <br /> the rejections were communicated to the buyers of Arrowhead Lot 10 or to the buyers of any of the other <br /> Arrowhead Lots, along with information on what was needed to correct the situation. As buyers of Lot <br /> 10 in October, 2002, we can attest that we were not aware of the fact that we were inheriting a situation <br /> where we were knowingly being taxed for land we did not own. Quite frankly, we were naive enough to <br /> believe that such a thing could not happen in the United States of America. <br /> It is difficult to understand why the County decided to continue to place more weight on the use of the <br /> already known to be erroneous Plat recorded in Plat Book 26, Page 73 rather than on the subsequent <br /> Plats recorded in the mid-1980s, all of which—though described by County staff as being somewhat <br /> imperfect—were nonetheless more complete and accurate with respect to delineation of ownership than <br /> the older Plat. Those subsequently recorded Plats appear to have been a significant improvement in that <br /> they provided a reasonable basis for quantifying the amount of land on the Arrowhead Lots that was <br /> owned by Lake Orange Inc. In addition, continuation of the use of the original Arrowhead subdivision <br /> Plat appears to be in conflict with one of the general axioms of property law: "One cannot convey that <br /> which one does not own." <br /> Having become clearly aware of these ownership &"double taxation"issues in July/August,2018, John <br /> and Judith Guibert acted as quickly as possible to resolve this matter once and for all by conducting and <br /> recording a new survey/survey plat for Arrowhead Lot 10. (As an aside, availability of surveyors is low <br /> and resulted in our inability to take this action as promptly as we desired.) The new survey was <br /> conducted on January 23, 2019 and was recorded on February 19, 2019 (Plat Book 119, Page 191). The <br /> new Plat shows: <br /> • Elevation contours for both the 615' and 620' elevations <br /> • That,the land within those contours is 16,084 SF (0.37 acres) in size <br /> • That the land existing above elevation contour 620' is 66,780 SF(1.53 acres) in size <br /> • That the total land shown for Lot 10 is 1.90 acres in size. <br /> This survey and recorded Plat have been accepted by the County as acceptable for both land ownership <br /> and taxation purposes. <br /> 4 <br />