Just wondering if anyone on here has ran into this before?
I am doing a survey in WV. There was a permanent flood easement established for USA on a small portion of my subject property because of construction of a dam, and the resultant USACE surveys and studies performed.
The easement was never abandoned, but there are more recent flood studies in the area that for practical reasons would supersede the original easement in terms of accuracy. Obviously the easement would still exist, but I was wondering if anyone has ran into this before?
PS: The current 1% annual chance flood elevation is actually almost 2' higher than the easement in question - so it makes no real difference; just wondering for future reference.
You are correct in recognizing these as separate issues. In general, an easement created by a formal instrument must be vacated by formal instrument. The real work is in tracing who has the authority to vacate. Unless you do this as a routine service you may need to find an Attorney. This is not the same as walking a subdivision application through planning....
thebionicman, post: 363611, member: 8136 wrote: You are correct in recognizing these as separate issues. In general, an easement created by a formal instrument must be vacated by formal instrument. The real work is in tracing who has the authority to vacate. Unless you do this as a routine service you may need to find an Attorney. This is not the same as walking a subdivision application through planning....
No kidding! Abandoning an easement to the USA might take an act of Congress...
Jim in AZ, post: 363614, member: 249 wrote: No kidding! Abandoning an easement to the USA might take an act of Congress...
And, if there are actual waterways involved, you likely need to get someone to make the determination that these "Waters of the United States" do not, in fact, need these lands. We went through a process on one project where there weren't any easements involved at all, and the land owners just thought the waterways were old farming sloughs. Unfortunately the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers claimed that they were "Waters of the United States", for some unknown reason, and it took over 3 years to clear title to these unused sloughs so they could be filled in.