BUFORD – If you have ever owned, considered owning, or have had friends who owned property on Lake Lanier you have probably heard the term “the Corps line”.
Oftentimes lakefront property owners or real estate agents showing a lakefront listing will point at a tree with red paint markings on its bark and say, “That’s the Corps line over there”, giving the phrase mystical significance.
Sometimes the naive when first hearing this reference (yours truly included) will look at the ground as if some dashed-line or stretched crime scene tape made “the Corps line” something readily visible, only to discover that “the Corps line” is not plainly seen.
So what exactly is this arcane phrase? Is “the Corps line” some esoteric point of delineation as the word “line” would lead one to believe? And what does it represent?
To better understand what “the Corps line” is we spoke with “the Corps”, namesake of the infamous “line”, at the Buford office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The USACE was created by Congress on March 16, 1802, the result the Military Peace Establishment Act, and signed into law by President Thomas Jefferson. USACE owns, built and manages Lake Lanier, a task undertaken by the agency in the mid-1950s.
Ranger Craig Sowers, a 16-year veteran of USACE, said, “The Corps line is simply the Corps of Engineers’ property line. All landowners have a property line that defines the boundaries of the property that they own.”
Sowers said, “The Corps marks that property line in (a couple of) ways: first, with surveyed property markers; secondly with red paint, which would be the most visible to our adjacent property owners.”
“The red paint is not exactly the Corps line, it’s just an indicator that the property line is nearby,” Sowers added. “There’s a special painting scheme…different lines mean different things.”
Click here to view details of what the different paint patterns signify.
Sowers said in most cases the Corps line is not tied to a specific elevation above sea level or to a measured distance from the shore line, two common misunderstandings held by the general public.
“It all goes back to the property that was purchased when the Corps of Engineers acquired the land to impound Lake Lanier. So it varies both in elevation and in distance from the water’s edge.”
And that can mean the Corps line is a long way from the shore line or that the Corps line is in the water, an uncommon but occurring situation. Those rare properties usually command the highest market value according to realtors.
And as any property owner knows, if your neighbor wants to do something on your side of the property line he will need your permission; the same is true with the Corps line; hence, the Corps issues permits to applicants wanting to use Corps property. The most common application permitted involves boat docks.
But, Sowers said, there are occasions when inadvertent and/or deliberate encroachment onto Corps property happens, requiring the Corps to take appropriate action.
“It would really depend on what that encroachment entails,” Sowers explained. “If it involves the unauthorized cutting of vegetation it could lead to a replanting requirement where they have to go in and restore the vegetation that was cut. That may also involve a monetary fine.”
“If it is more of a structure that is encroaching such as a deck or a patio or a home, that is a different resolution program…there’s some different programs that are out there where we can work with the homeowners, hopefully, in an effort so those structures don’t have to be removed, but in some cases we don’t have an option but to have the homeowner remove what was built over the line.”
Sowers said such steps are sometimes necessary, but he was quick to add that the Corps wants to maintain friendly, amicable relations with its neighbors.
“The Corps of Engineers employees that work in this office are members of the community just the same as the homeowners around the lake. We want to be approachable. We want to help the people who live adjacent to Lake Lanier with their permitting concerns, with any questions that they may have.”
Sowers invites anyone with questions regarding Corps operations or Corps property use to contact the Project Manager’s Office at (770) 945-9531.
