Bennett Land Surveying is reopening its Squamish office almost 30 years after it closed.
Owner John Franko, who currently lives in the Garibaldi Highlands, said the growth in Squamish is a good sign for his business and will enable employees to commute less.
鈥淎nybody can see in town how much construction is going on. Anytime anyone wants to build anything, or put something in the ground, it requires a survey,鈥� he said.
Bennett Land Surveying operates across southern 小蓝视频, but their dedicated Squamish office聽 closed in the 1980s. The growth in the community has allowed business owner John Franko to reopen a local branch.
Franko worked as a surveyor on the Sea to Sky Gondola project and said land surveying is an exciting part of the history of Squamish and other 小蓝视频 communities.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a bit of an archaeological dig. Sometimes you鈥檙e searching for old posts in areas,鈥� he said.
Over the course of his work, he has identified fence posts from 1890, walked in the footsteps of original land surveyors, interpreted scars from tree carvings and found stone cairns left by surveying teams.
Currently, surveyors are updating their methods to keep pace with new technology.
Land surveyors in 小蓝视频 are licensed by the Association of 小蓝视频 Land Surveyors and hired to put together things like strata plans, topographical surveys and property boundary surveys, all of which are badly needed in a quickly developing community.
Working in the district, Franko said he is sometimes updating original surveys by Ernest A. Cleveland 鈥� the namesake of the downtown mainstreet.
鈥淚t鈥檚 sort of a science and an art, identifying boundaries. Back then, surveyors used to get streets named after them,鈥� he said.
While there鈥檚 no Franko Street being proposed at council in 2018, he said he鈥檚 looking forward to having a hometown office.
While the Sea to Sky highway might be the most scenic commute in the country, Franko noted the time spent on it takes away from family and outdoor pursuits at home.
