How do you know when you’re in the city of Manchester? Look around, someone might say.

Thursday, February 28, 2002

How do you know when you’re in the city of Manchester? Look around, someone might say. But it isn’t that easy at the moment.

Over the years, the boundaries in the community have become obscure. Residents aren’t always sure where their property lines are, and sometimes there is overlap between neighbors’ ideas about what is their own land and what isn’t.

Now city officials have decided they need to know where the city begins and ends, officially. At city expense, they are set to begin a city-wide survey of every single property to get a more accurate portrait of the city as a whole, and of its boundaries.

Letters were sent out earlier this week from Don Johnson, an attorney working with the city’s Boundary Commission, to all 81 of the city’s residents, notifying them of the project, which is set to begin later this spring.

According to Dave Pederson, city clerk and a member of the Boundary Commission, they are trying to reestablish the exact boundaries of the whole community.

&uot;Manchester as a whole has never been platted, so it’s difficult for folks who own property in the city to mortgage or sell,&uot; said Johnson. The surveying firm hired for the project, Jones-Haugh and Smith, Inc. of Albert Lea, will be trying to find the boundaries that are actually in use and make them the legal boundaries, he said.

It’s a project that may take awhile to complete.

&uot;How long will it take? That’s anybody’s guess,&uot; said Johnson. After the survey is completed, then there will be public meetings and hearings where property owners can ask questions or challenge the survey results, he said. A judge may get involved if property lines can’t be reached through discussion and negotiation.

After everything is settled, then the official plat for the city will be filed at the courthouse, Johnson.

And then everyone will really know for sure where they stand in Manchester.