Conflict in Boundaries

We recently moved to a new city and went to a new ward today that we found using the meeting house locator on the lds.org site. However, when we went to our assigned ward they today, they told us that Salt Lake has the wrong boundaries recorded because everything is divided by school district and the ward boundaries Salt Lake has are incorrect because they used a major road and the school district doesn't use any geographical markers for their boundaries. To make things more complicated the ward that they said we actually belong to in is in a different stake. I was wondering which ward should I go to.

The local leaders should know the boundaries of their units. With that in mind I would go to the unit they say you should be in. I doubt that CHQ has the wrong boundaries. But it is possible that the information provided to/by the meetinghouse locator is in error. My family just moved ten days ago to another state. I had checked on the ward we should attend months before leaving and was certain of the correct ward after checking the stake and ward maps from CDOL. A few days before we left and a few days after arriving at our new home the locator did not identify the correct unit. At one point it did not even identify our new ward as a nearby ward.

Just a few moments ago I checked both the meetinghouse locator and the new beta LDS Maps. The meetinghouse locator provided the correct information. The new beta LDS Maps could not even find the address for our residence on the first try. Two tries later if finally found the address and identified the correct ward.

vankomen wrote:they told us that Salt Lake has the wrong boundaries recorded because everything is divided by school district and the ward boundaries Salt Lake has are incorrect because they used a major road and the school district doesn't use any geographical markers for their boundaries.

Taken at face value, if SLC has the wrong boundaries, it's because the stake is failing to communicate the corrections.

I'd sure hate to have that as my introduction to a new unit. It suggests that things could be, uh, "interesting".

I guess I might add that CDOL also places us within the ward we attended, and the clerks office has the official printout from Salt Lake with us within their boundaries but the have a hand modified version in which we live outside the ward boundaries. Therefore if my previous ward would send my records to our new address I think they would be routed to the ward we attended today but the seem fairly ceratain we lived outside their ward boundaries.

vankomen wrote:I guess I might add that CDOL also places us within the ward we attended, and the clerks office has the official printout from Salt Lake with us within their boundaries but the have a hand modified version in which we live outside the ward boundaries. Therefore if my previous ward would send my records to our new address I think they would be routed to the ward we attended today but the seem fairly ceratain we lived outside their ward boundaries.

It sounds to me like the stake needs to get in touch with CHQ and get the updated map to them.

ryan jones wrote:It sounds to me like the stake needs to get in touch with CHQ and get the updated map to them.

Having just gone through this, it is sometimes difficult to get the exact boundaries on the maps CHQ sends you. Once you do get it, they may have assumed a blip off a major road was a mistake and taken the major road instead.

Updating is no easy task, and is not made any easier by CHQ. In trying to fix a mistake to our boundaries, I was told we would have to go through the entire approval process again - 6 months at least to move a section of the boundary to a county line instead of a street. Luckily, the stake president called in and was able to find someone a little more reasonable to talk to.

Long story short - it doesn't sound like you're the person who will be doing the updating, so this is all a little bit of overkill for you. However, the local leaders know what the boundaries should be. Whether they communicated that to CHQ or not is an entirely different story.

crislapi wrote:Having just gone through this, it is sometimes difficult to get the exact boundaries on the maps CHQ sends you. Once you do get it, they may have assumed a blip off a major road was a mistake and taken the major road instead.

It's been a long time since I've seen boundary changes done, but I remember seeing them as a written description. Your experience suggests that maps may not work well when the boundary lines are drawn down the "backyard" fence as I've seen suggested here. (It's easier to visit your across-the-street neighbor then it is to visit over-the-backyard-fence.)

vankomen wrote:I was wondering which ward should I go to.

I would go to the ward that the local leaders suggested you attend. I would also let them know that the information you received on-line is wrong, so that the stake clerks involved can get it corrected. Hopefully, the new stake will agree that you should be in their ward.

RussellHltn wrote:It's been a long time since I've seen boundary changes done, but I remember seeing them as a written description.

We don't normally use written descriptions any longer, but they sometimes come in handy where lines on maps are not clear.

I see a couple of possibilities here.

One, CHQ has recorded the wrong boundaries. This rarely happens, but on occasion it does, and the stake needs to communicate to get it fixed. This normally does not require the full boundary realignment process to get the correction made.

Two, the stake desires to make a minor (?) change to the boundaries, and has not yet communicated them to CHQ but is implementing them already. This would not be an authorized change until it is approved by the Boundary Committee and the Brethren who supervise that committee. The official boundaries change after approval from CHQ, not before.

In either case however, as a member, I would attend the ward where I was asked to attend, and I would leave it to the priesthood leaders involved to worry about the lines on the map.

And make sure the correct ward has your membership record, so they can give you a calling. It sounds as if they have lost a week or two of your faithful service because they have not kept up with important administrative things. [grin]

lajackson wrote:I see a couple of possibilities here.

Or:
Three, the stake submitted incorrect maps or boundary descriptions when the last boundary change in this area was made.

In any case, the stake really needs to fix the boundary. Our stake had an incorrect boundary (and the reason was #3 as I described above). A new family trusted the official boundaries and started attending the assigned ward, only to later discover that some neighbors were attending another ward (based on what they had been told by the stake many years ago when the ward was created). It created an unfortunate mess when we fixed the boundaries to match the original intent, and now the family attending the ward that was official at the time they moved in is now attending the "wrong" ward.

The moral of the story: it's essential to have the correct official boundaries -- don't just write in different boundaries on your local map. Follow the proper procedure to make sure Church headquarters has the correct boundaries.

Alan_Brown wrote:The moral of the story: it's essential to have the correct official boundaries

Broaden it a bit and that's a fairly apt description of a clerk's duties - make the paperwork/computer be what it's supposed to be and make sure correct information is disseminated.