Easement and Access Surveys in Kitsap County
DC Surveying maps easements and access for property owners across Kitsap County and the surrounding area.
From our office in Poulsbo, we serve Silverdale, Bremerton, Kingston, Seabeck, Port Orchard, Port Ludlow, Bainbridge Island, and the Northern Hood Canal.
Shared driveways, private roads, and beach paths are part of daily life here, and knowing where those rights run protects your plans..
How are Easements Defined?
Easements and access rights can be hard to understand just by reading title documents. The paperwork may say a neighbor, utility company, or nearby property owner has the right to use part of your land, but it may not be clear where that area is on the ground.
An easement and access survey helps connect the legal record to the real property. It can show a shared driveway, private road, beach path, utility route, or other access area in relation to your boundary lines.
This type of survey is useful for homeowners, vacant land buyers, farm owners, waterfront owners, and anyone with shared roads or private access. It can help you understand what parts of the land may need to stay open and what areas may be affected before you build, fence, sell, or make changes.
What does an easement survey show?
Common easement types in Greater Kitsap County
| Easement type | What it does |
|---|---|
| Utility easement | Lets power, water, sewer, or communication lines cross the land |
| Access or road easement | Gives a rear parcel the right to reach a public road, common on rural land |
| Shared driveway | Lets two or more homes use one driveway, frequent on older plats |
| Beach or tideland easement | Gives upland owners a path to the shore along bodies of water including lakes, rivers, streams and along Puget Sound |
| Drainage easement | Carries stormwater across a property |
| Open space or native growth area | Limits clearing and building to protect wetlands, steep slopes, and trees |
When do you need an easement or access survey?
You may need an easement or access survey any time another person, neighbor, or utility company has the right to use part of your land. You may also need one if your property depends on access across someone else’s land.
For homeowners, this often comes up when buying a home on a private road, sharing a driveway, building a fence, or planning an addition near an easement. A survey can help show what areas need to remain open for access, utilities, or shared use.
For vacant land buyers here in Kitsap, Mason, and Jefferson counties, this can be very important before closing. Some rural parcels do not touch a public road. An easement or access survey can help confirm how the property is reached and whether the access shown in legal documents matches what is being used on the ground.
For commercial and development projects, these surveys are often used before buying, building, extending utilities, or creating new lots. They can help avoid access problems before a project moves too far forward. Contact DC Surveying and we can go over in greater detail your needs and offer the best solution.
Other Easement Surveying Questions We Commonly Get:
A title report lists the recorded ones, and some appear on your subdivision plat. We can plot them on a survey so you can see exactly where they sit on your land.
A property line marks where your ownership ends. An easement is a right someone else holds to use land inside your ownership.
Not usually without permission. The easement document outlines the rules, and the city or county may deny a permit for structures inside one. DC Surveying can map the easement so you can plan around it.
Most recorded easements stay with the land and bind future owners. Some are personal rights that end with the current owner. The documents control, and an attorney can confirm which type you have.
A survey helps document where the road or driveway use runs and how it relates to your lines. A real estate attorney can then advise you on your rights and options.
A right that can grow out of long, open use of someone’s land without permission. Whether one exists is a legal question for attorneys and courts, but a survey records the facts on the ground.
Land with no legal access to a public road. Before buying rural property, have DC Surveying confirm that recorded access reaches all the way to the road.
Yes. DC Surveying can provide the legal description and exhibit map. Your attorney or title company prepares the agreement that gets recorded with them.
Yes. DC Surveying sets stakes along the easement so owners, neighbors, and contractors can see exactly where it runs.
It depends on the length of the easement, the terrain, and how much record research is needed. Contact us with your parcel number and we can explain any cost options.
Creating a new easement
If you need to grant or receive an easement, we survey the strip, write the legal description, and prepare the exhibit map that records with the agreement. Attorneys and title companies rely on these documents to record a valid easement. DC Surveying can also stake the easement so everyone can see it on the ground.
Local knowledge matters
Many Kitsap, Jefferson, or Mason County parcels trace back to old plats, handshake road agreements, and beach paths used for decades. DC Surveying pulls the county records, and our team find the evidence in the field, from old fence lines to gravel roads that never made it into writing. That mix of research and field work is what settles access questions.
Contact DC Surveying Today
If you have any question or need more information about easements and the surveying process fill out our contact form or give DC Surveying a call.