This suit involves a dispute over several easements claimed to burden plaintiff’s land in southwest Durham County. Plaintiff contends the easements were either void ab initio or were later extinguished, while defendants contend the easements were validly created and continue to burden plaintiff’s land. Plaintiff brought this action for a declaratory judgment as to the existence and validity of the easements.
The questions presented for review are whether the trial court erred by granting defendants’ motion for summary judgment and by denying plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment. We affirm in part and reverse in part.
*139 The facts of the case are as follows. Plaintiff owns property in Durham County (“Tract One”) adjacent to property owned under a trust by defendant Zell (“Tract Two”). These lands were originally one tract owned by the T.F. Stone Companies (“Stone”), a commercial development company, who replatted the land into separate tracts as part of an overall development plan.
In 1985 Stone requested and received approval of the site development plan by the City of Durham (“Durham”), and recorded the site map with the Register of Deeds. As a condition for approving the development plan, Durham rеquired Stone to dedicate and build as a public street the 80-foot right-of-way known as Tower Boulevard. The street was shown on the recorded site development map and was to be built in stages as the different tracts were developed.
In October 1985 Stone executed and recorded a dеed of trust encumbering Stone’s entire tract in favor of Irving Trust Company. Irving Trust also agreed to finance the construction of a 17-story office building on Tract Two. Construction of the office tower began that same fall. The construction activities included clearing and grubbing for the first stage of Tower Boulevаrd and for the disputed driveways.
Stone later wished to develop or sell Tract One separately from Tract Two, and sought to have Tract One released from the Irving deed of trust. Irving Trust would not consent to releasing the tract unless Stone formally granted driveway, sewer and drainage easements ovеr Tract One in favor of Tract Two. On 14 March 1986 Stone recorded a declaration of easement and subjected Tract One to a new deed of trust in favor of First City Savings Association. Irving Trust then released Tract One from its deed of trust. When the entire transaction was completed, bare legal title tо Tracts One and Two had been separated and vested in different entities, but Stone retained beneficial ownership to the entire subdivision.
On 7 November 1986 Stone recorded a final plat showing the subdivision’s lots and Tower Boulevard extending from Highway 15-501 to Pickett Road. The plat contained a statement, signed by Stone’s president, Tommy F. Stone, that the plat was prepared at his direction and all streets shown thereon were dedicated to the public. Because of this offer to dedicate, Durham removed the proffered land from the tax rolls and has not assessed property tax on this land. Durham аlso included Tower Boulevard in its official zoning atlas.
*140 When Stone recorded the plat dedicating Tower Boulevard, the trustee, First City, did not sign the dedication. First City, however, subsequently released lots from the deed of trust as Stone sold them, and Stone sold the lots referring to the recorded plat.
In May 1987 Stone сonveyed its interest in Tract Two and the office tower to Triangle Equities, Inc. The office tower was completed and opened during the Fall of 1987 and the driveways crossing Tract One have been in continuous public use ever since. In June 1989 Irving Trust foreclosed on the deed of trust on Tract Two and sold the land and office tower to Landmark Tower, Inc. (“Landmark”). The deed to Landmark stated it passed “all privileges and appurtenances” belonging to the land, but did not explicitly refer to the driveway easements. On 16 October 1991 Landmark conveyed the land and office tower to defendant Zell. The deed to Zell specifically mentioned the driveway easements.
Paving of the first stage of Tower Boulevard was completed by 28 May 1988. On 16 April 1991 Durham requested that defendant North Carolina Department of Transportation (“NCDOT”) complete the second stage of Tower Boulevard, connecting thе street through to Pickett Road. Durham accepted maintenance of the road on 17 June 1991.
In May 1992 First City foreclosed on the deed of trust on Tract One and conveyed the property to plaintiff Tower Development Partners. However, defendants Durham and NCDOT, owners of the road easemеnt, did not receive notice of the foreclosure proceedings.
Plaintiff instituted this action in September 1993 seeking a declaration that the driveway easements and the remainder of the Tower Boulevard easement were invalid. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of all defendants on bоth issues and denied plaintiffs motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff appeals to this Court.
I.
Plaintiff does not contest the dedication of the portion of Tower Boulevard completed in 1988, only its planned completion to Pickett Road. The issue is whether Stone’s dedication of the entire street was valid.
Beсause North Carolina does not have statutory guidelines for dedicating streets to the public, the common law principles of offer and acceptance apply.
Emanuelson v. Gibbs,
Generally, where lots are sold and conveyed by reference to a plat which represents the division of a tract into streets and lots, recordation of the plat is an offer to dedicate those streets to the public.
Wofford v. Highway Commission,
Plaintiff asserts the offer to dedicate was invalid bеcause the plat was not signed by the owner of the property, T.F. Stone Companies, but by Tommy F. Stone in his individual capacity. Nevertheless, the plat clearly states it was prepared for T.F. Stone Companies, Inc., and was signed by the company president whose name the business bears. We find, even if Tommy Stone did not sign the plat in his capacity as company president, he was clothed with apparent authority such that the company is bound by his acts.
See Foote & Davies, Inc. v. Arnold Craven, Inc.,
We therefore hold there was a valid offer to dedicate the entire street from Highway 15-501 to Pickett Road.
The dedication is only comрlete, however, when the offer is accepted in some proper way by the responsible public authority.
Wofford,
Durham has not only maintained Tower Boulevard since June 1991 as one of its city streets, but has adopted the recorded plat into its official zoning map and has removed the land covered by the dedication from its tax rolls. These are sufficiently official actions to accept an offer to dedicate land.
See Id.; Lee v. Walker,
Plaintiff contends Durham has only accepted the completed portion of Tower Boulevard, but not the planned completion. Plaintiff in effеct argues the dedication of this portion of Tower Boulevard has been withdrawn. The dedication of a street, however, may not be withdrawn if the dedication has been accepted and the street,
or any part of it,
is actually opened and used by the public.
Food Town Stores v. City of Salisbury,
The dispositive issue becomes whether the dedication was extinguished by the foreclosure proceedings. Plaintiff claims, since the trustee did not sign the dedication, the dedication was made subject to the deеd of trust and was cut off by the subsequent foreclosure. While this generally stated rule is correct, an exception applies. When the mortgagee gives implied consent to the dedication by releasing lots sold referring to the plat which dedicates the streets, then the dedication is enforcеable.
Collins v. Asheville Land Co.,
We have carefully reviewed plaintiff’s remaining contentions in connection with the dedication issue and conclude they are without merit.
II.
Defendant Samuel Zell (“Zell”) asserts the driveway easements were validly created under any of the following principles: (1) express grant; (2) dedication; or (3) implication. We will address each of these principles in turn.
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It is axiomatic in property law that one may not have an easement in his or her own land.
See Patrick v. Jefferson Standard Life Ins. Co.,
In
Powers
a tract of land benefitted by an access easement was conveyed to thе owner of the servient estate.
Id.
at 657,
We find Powers distinguishable from the case sub judice. First, the instant case arises out of an attempt to create an easement, wherеas Powers dealt with an easement already extant. Second, Zell’s predecessor in title was the equitable owner of both tracts and merely divided bare legal title between different trustees. In Powers, on the other hand, legal and equitable title were clearly separated before, and the equitablе titles merged when the servient estate was conveyed to the owner of the dominant estate. Third, the trustee’s estate in Powers was intermediate between the legal and equitable estates, whereas no intermediate estate existed between Stone’s legal and equitable titles to prevent the operation of merger.
Moreover, as the equitable owner of the land, Stone had the real and beneficial use of both tracts. Because an easement is the right to
use
the land of another,
Builders Supplies Co. v. Gainey,
Zell alternatively asserts the driveway easements were created by dedication. In a strict sense, however, a dedication must be made to
*144
the public, and not to part of the public nor to private owners of рarticular land. In this latter situation the right is in the nature of an easement appurtenant.
Land Corp. v. Styron,
Zell finally asserts the driveway easements were created by implication from prior use. The requirements for creation of an easеment by implication are: (1) a separation of title; (2) the claimed use must have been so obvious and long continued as to show it was meant to be permanent; and (3) the easement must be reasonably necessary to the enjoyment of the benefitted land.
Hodges v. Winchester,
The record does not clearly show when the driveways were paved, a factor we view as important in determining the permanence of the drivewаys. If the driveways were not yet paved when title was separated, we would view them to be insufficiently permanent to imply an easement.
However, the issue is not resolved even if the driveways were paved when title was separated. The use must still have been “so . . . long continued as to show it was meant to be permanent.”
Id.
Assuming the drives were paved at the earliest possible date, Fall 1985, they would have been in use only approximately eighteen months when Tract Two was conveyed in Spring 1987. Zell has not directed us to any authority which supports creation of an easement by implication in such a short time. Our review of prior caselaw indicates the shortest time heretofore recognized as sufficient to imply an easement is thirteen years.
See Potter v. Potter,
In summary we hоld Durham and NCDOT’s property interest in the dedicated portion of Tower Boulevard was not extinguished by the foreclosure proceedings and accordingly affirm the trial court’s grant of summary judgment on this issue for defendants Durham and NCDOT. We reverse the grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant Zell on the issue of whether the driveway easements were validly created and remand to the trial court for entry of summary judgment in favor of plaintiff.
Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.