Street improvements and property lines on residential streets

By Linda Reinke Williford

There are a lot of street improvements occurring in Shoreline.

Aside from the Aurora Corridor, there are several neighborhood individual projects occurring as well.

One of the latest projects was in the Echo Lake Neighborhood with the installation of sidewalks down Ashworth Ave N between N 185th St and N 192nd Street.

The following information is provided courtesy of Chicago Title on 'Residential Street Widths'

Streets as Constructed vs. Streets as Dedicated:

A common issue in many older neighborhoods is the width of the street as dedicated on the recorded plat, versus the width of the constructed street on the ground.

In many cases, the street as dedicated is wider than the street as constructed. This leads to a portion (sometimes a large portion) of what looks like the front yard and the property of the owner, actually being within the street. In some cases, actual improvements such as the garage, driveway, landscaping and perhaps even the dwelling itself may encroach into the street.

If an inspection is performed by the title company, and such an encroachment is discovered it will be disclosed by the company. However, the buyer may want to take this little anomaly into consideration when considering making an offer on a particular property. The same issue may also exist when properties abut active or abandoned railroad right of ways.

If you should have any question as to where your property lines are, the City of Shoreline has been very helpful in providing this information quickly ... personally, I visited the City Hall offices and loved the Aerial Viewpoint and found it extremely informative.

Linda Reinke Williford is a life-long Shoreline resident, and a realtor affiliated with Keller Williams Real Estate.

Updated 1-30-2012 3:08pm