California Surveyors Forums

Can a County Surveyor require a vicinity map to be placed on a ROS? Don't see anything about it in the LSA, and I have several street identified on my ROS so I don't know why they would need it.

The only reason I can see for it is that it may be a standard of practice for that particular county.

It's a local requirement here so we can figure out just where the hell you're working. If it's an urban R/S with two or more streets shown we wouldn't ask for it. The further out you go the more we need it.

I would think that in your situation you wouldn't need one but it's not in my county.......................................is it?

Thanks for the input. I'm not trying to rock the boat too hard but I have a real busy ROS and to add the Vicin. Map would be a pain. I'm showing 3 different streets on the maps so I think it should be real easy to locate on their indexes.

"The client knows where his parcel is and all the County Surveyor needs is an APN. Let's not add requirements which makes our job more difficult."

The vicinity map isn't for the client. We still plot our R/S's on a base map and lots in rural areas can be very hard to locate and delineate. It also helps other surveyors looking at your map to quickly acsertain whether your map is going to help them with their survey. By not adding it (when necessary) you make all subsequent uses of your map more difficult.

No Gary, not in your county.

Whenever I work on a job and have ROS maps that happen to have a vicinity map, it is totally superfluous to the map, and I never look at it. I fail to grasp the need for a vicinity map whatsoever.

Perhaps in very rural areas where the roads and access is undefined and not apparent from standard maps (i.e. private dirt roads and series of gates) then I can definitely see the need.

I agree that there is no law requiring a vicinity map, and I am unaware of any law giving the authority to a local agency to require one on a RS. But if it doesn't detract from the map (too crowded, confusing, etc.), then I wouldn't have a particular objection to including one.

If I had a good reason for not including one (beyond that it might not be useful to the client, "I'm not required to", etc.), then I'd let the CS know that I wasn't going to because... and direct the CS to file without further change if necessary.

But generally speaking, for the little effort that it would take to add, I'd try to accommodate the CS on something like this.

If you have to add a vicinity map and in order to do so have to add an extra sheet to place it on, that's rediculous IMO.

Some counties base their RS fees by the sheet (Riverside is $500 for sheet 1 and $300 for each additional sheet).

I do see the purpose of one in rural areas, but if you have at least a couple of identifiable streets shown on the map, then it should not be necessary.

makes the addition of a vicinity map to my Record of Survey, my choice.

(g) Any other data necessary for the intelligent interpretation of
the various items and locations of the points, lines, and areas
shown, or convenient for the identification of the survey or
surveyor, as may be determined by the civil engineer or land surveyor
preparing the record of survey.

btaylor: "Whenever I work on a job and have ROS maps that happen to have a vicinity map, it is totally superfluous to the map, and I never look at it. I fail to grasp the need for a vicinity map whatsoever."

I agree. Of all the maps I have examined, I would venture to say that only 1 out of 40 or 50 were such that a VM was useful, much less necessary. They are the exception to the rule. A map that includes at least two streets should obviate the need for a VM.

As for the comment about assisting other surveyors when researching a new job, by the time I get that far into a project I already have a mental picture of the local neighborhood surrounding the PIQ and wouldn't need a VM.

kwilson wrote:No they cannot require it but many try. It is also not necessary. The client knows where his parcel is and all the County Surveyor needs is an APN. Let's not add requirements which makes our job more difficult. This is not the only thing Counties ask us to put on our Records of Survey. We surveyors should not let each County get away with adding "local requirements" over and above what is stated in the law. Each County still has their idiosyncrasies we need to deal with like putting record info in parentheses (Santa Clara and San Mateo) or formatting the County Surveyors Statement differently (San Francisco) or making us separate the Legend from the References (San Francisco).

Since you reference San Mateo County Ken, let me clarify that a vicinity map is ONLY REQUIRED if you do not show a street intersection.