Is a Non-Exclusive Easement a public Right of Way

[Zeusster]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NC
Is a perpetual non-exclusive, appurtenant easement which is intended to convey a perpetual right of way to a non-road frontage piece of property used to determine the right of way line where it touches the property, then used to determine the front side and rear yards for setback lines? County Ordinance addresses public right of ways. Is this non-exclusive easement a "public" right of way?

 

[FlyingRon]

A non-exclusive appurtenant easement is NOT a public right of way. The easement gives permission for the dominant tenant to use the area encompassed by the easement. The non-exclusive means that the serviant tenant still has the right to use it and has the right to give permission for others to use (or not) as long as it doesn't preclude the easement granted. It is not necessarily a "public right-of-way" (though it may become one through another action).

The easement doesn't change anything with regard to setback lines (at least not in our county (Catawba)). Your setback is determined by your actual property lines. Not the area extended into the easement.

 

[Zeusster]

If the easement is the only access to a non-frontage parcel, then how is the front, side and rear yard determined to then determine the set back lines of the principal building? The county ordinance defines the front yard as "an open, unoccupied space extending the full width of the lot and situated between the right-of-way line of the street and the building setback line." Since the deed of easement states it is "intended to convey a perpetual right of way" we believe the point of access onto the parcel at the property line where the easement enters the parcel becomes the right of way line, thus the front yard. A zoning officer insists the ordinance does not address interior lots, which in turn has allowed a bias determination to be made concerning the "front" yard of a lot.

 

[FlyingRon]

Again, the easement makes no difference. Your setbacks are from your ACTUAL property line (without consideration of the easement). I'm failing how your disembodied ordinance quote means anyting. It defines the front yard with regard to setback lines, but doesn't change anything about where the setback lines are set.

 

[Zeusster]

I'm sorry, I'll try to clarify our question. We're trying to figure out, in a round about way, how the "front" of the lot is determined according to law, using the county ordinances, legal definitions and our documents. We assumed the designation of front, side and rear of a lot needed to be made before a structure could be built since proper setbacks must be used. We thought it made sense that it would be determined based on the point of entry (the easement) onto the property, as being the "front."
The zoning officer told us that the architectural orientation of the existing home on the property (front porch, windows, steps and front door) has no relation and does not indicate the "front" of the lot, thereby allowing him to make in our opinion a terribly biased decision about an accessory structure too close to our adjoining property line. He determined that although the house clearly faces the state road and is accessed by an easement from that state road, that one enters the property into the "rear" yard so the accessory building meets code. Accessory buildings are not allowed in front yards. In Oak Ridge, NC for example, this exact scenario is called a "Flag lot" indicating through explanation and diagrams that the point of entry onto the flag portion is the "front" of the lot. The ordinance in our county does not include the term "Flag lot."
Thank you for your time in trying to advise us and help with legal terminology. I realize our question may not make much sense but I was trying to avoid the long version.

 

[FlyingRon]

Architectural orientation indeed doesn't determine the front, though some counties have ordinances that rules that govern the placement of the architectural elements based on what is defined to be the front. But an easement doesn't necessarily change the front definition either. An easement doesn't make things a public right of way and hence doesn't allow you to redesignated that side of your lot as the front. I've been through this with my lot. They have an ordinance in Catawba where your front door has to be parallel to the street. The side street by my house turns out to be a road constructed on a lot. I got an easement for the lot, but it still doesn't allow me to claim that is my front lot line (though my neighbor across the development who has a true corner lot between two private but public-access street did). Mine wasn't a set back problem, but I had to change the front door on my house by 90 degrees.

 

[NC Aggie]

I'm having difficulty clearly understanding your explanation but if I understand correctly, then an "access" easement was recorded for purposes of accessing a landlocked piece of property in the side or rear of your property? If that's the case, then I think the zoning officer's determination is correct. In North Carolina, as in many other states, property owners of landlocked parcels have to be granted "right of ways" onto their property. For local ordinance purposes, the distinction between "access easement" and "public right of right" are indistinguishable in determining setback requirements. I know this to be fact in Greensboro, NC when I worked as a civil designer who did site layouts for homebuilder and running into a similar issue. An existing property owner refused to sell property to a developer and they had an existing "access easement" off of a proposed cul de sac in the new neighborhood and when setting the building pad, we had to maintain the same distance from the access easement as we did from the street right of way in front of the building pad.

 

[LdiJ]

I'm sorry, I'll try to clarify our question. We're trying to figure out, in a round about way, how the "front" of the lot is determined according to law, using the county ordinances, legal definitions and our documents. We assumed the designation of front, side and rear of a lot needed to be made before a structure could be built since proper setbacks must be used. We thought it made sense that it would be determined based on the point of entry (the easement) onto the property, as being the "front."
The zoning officer told us that the architectural orientation of the existing home on the property (front porch, windows, steps and front door) has no relation and does not indicate the "front" of the lot, thereby allowing him to make in our opinion a terribly biased decision about an accessory structure too close to our adjoining property line. He determined that although the house clearly faces the state road and is accessed by an easement from that state road, that one enters the property into the "rear" yard so the accessory building meets code. Accessory buildings are not allowed in front yards. In Oak Ridge, NC for example, this exact scenario is called a "Flag lot" indicating through explanation and diagrams that the point of entry onto the flag portion is the "front" of the lot. The ordinance in our county does not include the term "Flag lot."
Thank you for your time in trying to advise us and help with legal terminology. I realize our question may not make much sense but I was trying to avoid the long version.

You are giving a lot of explanation here, but nothing that really helps us understand what the actual problem is. We do not need the long version, we just need more specific facts.

IE: My neighbor wants to build an X, in Y specific location, and we don't like it for Z specific reason. The zoning officer says its ok for B specific reason. You could probably give us the nitty gritty in one short paragraph.