[WSBARP] Conservation Easement and Boundary Line Adjustment

[Ron Housh]

A question relating to conservation easements and boundary line
adjustments.

 

There is a 77 acre parcel in Skagit County that is the subject of a
recorded conservation easement.  My client has a house and 3 acres
adjacent to the 77 acre parcel.  Actually I believe the conservation
easement was granted at the time the home and 3 acres were carved out as a
residential lot.  

 

There are a couple of outbuildings just outside of the 3 acres that have
been used for years by my client.  Yes- the outbuildings are on the 77
acre parcel that is the subject of the conservation easement.  I’m not yet
sure why an extra acre or two was not carved out to include the
outbuildings at the time that the conservation easement was granted.  In
other words I’m not sure why a five-acre residential lot was not created
with 75 acres granted to the conservation easement.

 

I am evaluating the possibility of a lot line adjustment.  The
conservation easement expressly states “the legal division, subdivision or
partitioning of the Protected Property is prohibited; except that boundary
line adjustments are permitted.”

The Skagit County Planning Department states that the language is only to
allow an expansion of the Protected Property and not a reduction.  When I
state that the language is not limited to expansion, the response I get is
“that is how we interpret it because we don’t want to be at odds with the
US Department of Agriculture.”  No further explanation offered.

 

Does anyone have any thoughts or any experience to suggest why the US
Department of Agriculture would have a problem with a modest reduction in
the acreage of a conservation easement - especially if the grantor of the
easement [the owner of the fee title] was in favor of the lot line
adjustment?

 

Or is this a case of the County in effect saying this is our
interpretation and so be it??

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

I AM TYPICALLY IN THE SEATTLE OFFICE ON TUESDAY AND THURSDAY AND IN THE
MOUNT VERNON OFFICE ON MONDAY, WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY 

 

Ronald G. Housh, P.S.

Attorney at Law

 

Seattle Office:

1420 Fifth Avenue, Suite 3000

Seattle, WA 98101-2393

Phone:   206-381-1341

Fax:        206-464-0461

Email:     <mailto:ron at housh.org> ron at housh.org

 

Mount Vernon Office:

21411 Bluejay Place

Mount Vernon, WA 98274

Phone:  360-445-3327

Email:    <mailto:ron at housh.org> ron at housh.org

 


 

 

 

===============================
- To contact the list administrator, send a message to:
webmaster at wsbarppt.com 


- To unsubscribe, send a new message to: imail at lists.wsbarppt.com, with
the following in the body of the message: unsubscribe wsbarp - OR - send a
message to webmaster at wsbarppt.com asking that you be removed from the
wsbarp list. 

Information provided on this list should not be considered legal advice.
As with all lists - let the reader beware! No warranties or
representations are made as to the accuracy of any information provided.
All opinions and comments in this message represent the views of the
author and do not necessarily have the endorsement of the Washington State
Bar Association nor its officers or agents. 

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: winmail.dat
Type: application/ms-tnef
Size: 8246 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbarp/attachments/20140428/5a387e08/winmail.dat>