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<br /> Environmental M,ta I.eso- urces, Inc.
<br /> Historical Topographic Map Report
<br /> Environmental Data Resources, Inc.'s (EDR) Historical Topographic Map Report is designed to assist
<br /> professionals in evaluating potential liability on a tar;:;ct prol)erty, and its surrounding area, resulting from
<br /> past activities. ASTM E 1527-00, Section 7.3 on Historical Use Information, identifies the prior use
<br /> requirements for a Phase I environmental site assessment. Thi ASTM standard requires a review of
<br /> reasonably ascertainable standard historical sources. Reasonably ascertainable is defined as
<br /> i` information that is publicly available, obtainable: from a source with reasonable time and cost
<br /> constraints, and practically reviewable.
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<br /> To meet the prior use requirements of ASTM E 1527-00, Section 7.3.4, the following standard historical
<br /> F7 sources may be used: aerial photographs, city directo,ics, fire insurance maps, topographic maps, property
<br /> tax files, land.title records (although these cannot be the sole historical source consulted), building
<br /> department records, or zoning/and use records. A,I;TM E 15-27-00 requires "All obvious uses of the
<br /> property shall be identified from the present, back to the property's obvious.first developed use, or back
<br /> to 1940, whichever is earlier. This task requires reviewing, only as many of the standard historical
<br /> sources as are necessary, and that are reasonably ascertainable and likely to be useful." (ASTM E
<br /> 1527-00, Section 7.3.2 page 12.)
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<br /> EDR s Historical Topographic Map Report includes a search of available public and private color
<br /> historical topographic map collections.
<br /> 1,Y Topographic Maps
<br /> r., A topographic map (topo) is a color coded line-and-s--rinbol rep_esentation of natural and selected artificial
<br /> features plotted to a scale. Topos show the shape, elevation. and development of the terrain in precise F
<br /> - detail by using contour lines and color coded symbols. Many features are shown by lines that may be
<br /> straight, curved, solid, dashed, dotted, or in any coznbinatior.. The colors of the lines usually indicate
<br /> similar classes of information. For example, topographic contours (brown); lakes, streams, irrigation s
<br /> ditches, etc. (blue); land grids and important roads (red); secondary roads and trails, railroads, boundaries,
<br /> etc. (black); and features that have been updated using aerial photography, but not field verified, such as
<br /> disturbed land areas (e.g., gravel pits) and newly devcoped water bodies (purple). M
<br />_ For more than a century, the USGS has been creating,and revising topographic maps for the entire country
<br /> at a variety of scales. There are about 60,000 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) produced topo maps o
<br /> covering the United States. Each map covers a specific quadrangle (quad) defined as a four-sided area
<br /> bounded by latitude and longitude. Historical topographic maps are a valuable historical resource for
<br /> documenting the prior use of a property and its surrounding area, and due to their frequent availability can
<br />.� be particularly helpful when other standard historical sources (slach as city directories, fire insurance maps,
<br /> or aerial photographs) are not reasonably ascertainable.
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