Question
Anne owned a 100 by 400 - foot lot fronting on Fostoria Road, a paved state highway, on the west. Anne divided her lot into
Anne owned a 100 by 400 - foot lot fronting on Fostoria Road, a paved state highway, on the west. Anne divided her lot into two parcels, each 100 by 200 feet, which left lot 1 as the only one with
frontage access to Fostoria Road. Lot 2, immediately to the east of lot 1, had no access to a public road
after the split. Therefore, when Anne sold Lot 2 to Kathy, she included in the deed the following express
easement: "In order to assure access to Fostoria Road from Lot 2, a six -foot- wide gravel easement in favor of Lot 2 is hereby granted across the northernmost edge of Lot 1." At the time of the deed, the area
was zoned for single-family residences and residential duplexes only. Kathy used the easement across
Lot 1 to build her house on Lot 2 and has continued to use the easement to get to her house for the past
10 years. The area was recently rezoned to allow multi - family dwellings. Kathy has now acquired Lot 3,
immediately to the east of Lot 2, from Jim. A rough gravel road runs along the eastern edge of Lot 3.
Kathy intends to redevelop Lots 2 and 3 by building a 10-unit apartment building that would span Lots 2
and 3. Kathy wants to pave the easement on Lot 1 and widen it to a 10-foot wide access road for
improved access to Lots 2 and 3. Anne does not want the easement paved or widened, but in order to
redevelop her own property, she would like to relocate the easement to the south side of her property if
she cannot get rid of it altogether. Anne comes to you for advice.
(1) Can Anne prevent: (a) Kathy's ongoing use of the easement (assume the rough gravel road east of Lot 3
means that Lot 3 is not land-locked),
(b) the widening or paving of the easement, or (c) use of the easement by Kathy and her tenants to
access the apartment spanning lots 2 and 3?
(2) Can Anne relocate the easement? What if relocation would make use of the easement extremely
difficult for Kathy?
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