We recently worked on a project that involved developing a piece of property located next to several parcels that included a small shopping center and an outparcel. There was a reciprocal easement agreement among the property owners of the adjacent parcels for private streets providing access across the various parcels. The city required that the developer obtain an easement across that adjacent parcels for emergency access to the development parcel.
The question that arose from this was “who needs to grant the easement required by the City?”
After careful review, we determined that necessary parties could only be determined if we knew where the emergency access would be located. If exclusively on the outlot and not on the private streets that were addressed in the reciprocal easement agreement, then a separate easement just from that the owner of the outparcel would be sufficient. If, however, the emergency access to be located across the private streets that were already in place, all parties to the reciprocal easement agreement (and any current lenders) would need to join in a modification of the existing agreement, or r to join in the grant of the new easement.