4.6.5. Easement Valuation Issues.In general terms, an easement is a limited right to use or control land owned by another for specified purposes.871 An easement is a property interest less than the fee estate, with the owner of the underlying fee (the servient estate) retaining full dominion over the realty, subject only to the easement (the dominant estate); the fee owner may make any use of the realty that does not interfere with the easement holder’s reasonable use of the easement and is not specifically excluded by the terms of the easement. 

Easements are either appurtenant or in gross. An appurtenant easement benefits another tract of land, and typically is useful only in conjunction with other property but has no independent utility—for example, a highway access easement for adjacent land. An easement in gross benefits a person or entity, and typically has utility in and of itself or in conjunction with other easements—such as a continuous easement across multiple tracts of land, forming a right of way. 

Federal acquisitions involve a wide variety of easements, including road, pipeline, transmission line, levee, flowage, clearance, avigation, scenic, conservation, tunnel, sewer line, construction, access, and safety zone easements, among others.872 Easements may be permanent (perpetual) or temporary.873 

Easement-related valuation problems typically arise in federal acquisitions in one of three scenarios: (1) direct acquisition of an easement—that is, a dominant easement interest—and its resulting impact on the value of the larger parcel; (2) acquisition of a servient estate encumbered by an existing (dominant) easement; or (3) acquisition that affects or extinguishes an existing easement benefitting another parcel (the affected easement may be appurtenant or in gross). In each scenario addressed below, the effect of the easement must be analyzed to reach a supported opinion of value. 

As discussed in Section 4.1.4, the nature and extent of the easement (or any other interest in property) being acquired will be determined by the agency, as delegated by Congress. In easement acquisitions, this means the agency must carefully and precisely define the property interest(s) being acquired and expressly state what interest(s), if any, will remain with the landowner.874 As the Supreme Court held, if the terms of the easement being acquired are unclear, “it would be premature for us to consider whether the amount of the award . . . was proper.”875