Consolidating Lots and Closing a Paper Alley
A developer owns Lots 4, 5, and 6 in Square 1120 in DC and wants to combine them into one parcel for a 24-unit apartment building. The three lots are each 20 ft wide and 100 ft deep, fronting on a 60-ft-wide street. A 15-ft-wide alley runs along the rear of the lots; it appears on the 1890 subdivision plat but is unimproved and has never been maintained by the city. The developer proposes to improve the alley as a private driveway and asks you to prepare a plat that eliminates the alley and combines the lots. The lots are zoned RA-2, and the proposed building would cover 70% of the lot area. The existing deeds describe the lots by lot and square, not by metes and bounds. A neighboring owner claims an easement over the alley for parking. The developer wants to close in three weeks.
1. What is the legal status of the alley and what steps are required before it can be eliminated? Can you simply show it as part of the lots on your plat?
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An alley shown on a recorded subdivision plat is a dedicated public way or a public easement. It cannot be extinguished by a surveyor's plat or by the developer's decision to improve it as a private driveway. In DC, vacation of a public alley requires action by the Council after review by the relevant agencies, and possibly a public hearing; the recorded vacation order is the authority for the change. If the alley is private, all owners with rights must release their easements in writing. Your plat should show the alley as it exists, note the pending vacation, and not erase it. Combining the lots also requires a subdivision/consolidation plat prepared by a DC-licensed surveyor and approved by the Office of the Surveyor, plus zoning compliance. The 70% lot coverage must be checked against RA-2 regulations before the plat is approved.
2. How would you describe the combined parcel in the new deed and plat-by lot and square or by metes and bounds? What monuments would you set?
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Use both. Because the existing deeds are by lot and square, the new deed should reference Lots 4, 5, and 6 in Square 1120 and the recorded plat, and the new plat should show a metes-and-bounds perimeter with bearings, distances, and area. This preserves the chain of title and gives a mathematical description. Set monuments at all new perimeter corners and at the points where the former lot lines meet the street and alley, so the consolidation can be retraced. Reference the monuments to the DC coordinate system or to the street line, and show ties to at least two existing control points. The description should close within the plat's stated precision, and the area should match the lot area used for zoning.
3. The neighbor claims a parking easement. How do you address it on the plat and in your client communications?
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Show the claimed easement area on the plat and label it as a claimed easement, with the basis-recorded instrument, prescriptive use, or oral claim. Do not ignore it and do not decide its validity. Request the neighbor's documentation and have the title company search the record. If the easement is recorded, it survives the consolidation and must be shown; if it is unrecorded, it may still be enforceable, and only a court or settlement can resolve it. Advise the developer in writing that the claim could affect the building footprint, financing, and the alley vacation. The plat should not certify that the parcel is free of easements.