Opinion ID: 2317126
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Easement by necessity to property accessible by navigable water.

Text: Ms. Stansbury argues that Lot 10A is accessible via the navigable water of the channel as well as the Chesapeake Bay and therefore, is not landlocked and an easement by necessity is not required to access the property. Ms. Stansbury also states that the limited purposes, pursuant to the Conservation Easement, for which Lot 10A may be utilized, renders access via navigable water sufficient for the ordinary use of the property. We discussed the impact of the Conservation Easement upon the ordinary use of Lot 10A supra and thus, will only address the effect of access by navigable water upon the establishment of an easement by necessity. This Court directly addressed the impact of access to navigable water for property in the context of easements by necessity in Hancock. Prior to Hancock, this Court in Woelfel v. Tyng, 221 Md. 539, 544, 158 A.2d 311, 313 (1960) had stated that it has been held in some cases that a way of necessity cannot be implied over contiguous lands of a grantor, where there is access over navigable waters. Addressing Woelfel, Judge Marbury, writing for the Hancock Court, opined: The more modern view, for sound reasons of social policy, is that a way of necessity may exist over the land of the grantor even though the grantee's land borders on a waterway, if the water route is not available or suitable to meet the requirements of the uses to which the property would reasonably be put. 236 Md. at 103, 202 A.2d at 602. In the case sub judice the ordinary and reasonable use of Lot 10A is access to the pier extending into the Chesapeake Bay. We concur with the Court of Special Appeals' holding, in which the court stated: We hold, based on the circuit court's findings that the only access to Lot 10A by the owners of Lot 178 is `by small boat or walking through the channel at low tide' and `that a pedestrian walkway is necessary for the reasonable use and enjoyment of [MDR's] riparian rights in the Chesapeake Bay,' that MDR is entitled to an easement by necessity over Ms. Stansbury's submerged property in order to access Lot 10A. [11] Stansbury, 161 Md.App. at 617, 871 A.2d at 625. Whether the use of the pier is for docking a boat, fishing, crabbing or simply enjoying the scenery is not dispositive of the issue. What is dispositive is that access via water is not suitable access to Lot 10A. The easement by necessity being sought is a footbridge. A footbridge constitutes a minimum impact to Ms. Stansbury's property, so that MDR may access Lot 10A by foot from its catty-cornered situated Lot 178. It is not suitable nor reasonable for MDR to travel to a public launching ramp, acquire a boat, and traverse the Chesapeake Bay in order to gain access to Lot 10A.