A covenant, restriction, or easement note on a San Juan County assessor card is a lead. It is not the recorded instrument. Transcribe the note and card identity, then use the San Juan County Auditor’s Recording Division to identify the deed, easement, covenant, plat, or other recorded document that answers the actual question.
The assessor-card title covers approximately 1989 through 2007. That range does not set the County’s recorded-document or permit coverage.
The collection holds about 41,000 cards. Its search form offers Parcel Number, House Number, Street Name, Addition, Former Building Number, Former Street Name, Former Address and Notes. The archive also says the cards were updated after each appraisal, usually every four to six years, and older information was sometimes discarded. A note you expect may have been dropped when a card was redone, so check every card image for the parcel before concluding the annotation never existed.
Preserve the annotation before leaving the card
Create a card-note worksheet:
- Card parcel number and address exactly as displayed.
- Image number and card date range.
- Full annotation, with uncertain words or digits marked.
- Named document type, party, date, book and page, or Auditor File Number if the note supplies one.
- Nearby text needed to understand what the annotation modifies.
- Link and date for the card image reviewed.
Do not expand an abbreviation silently. If a note says only “easm’t” or “restr.,” preserve that wording and ask the recorder which indexed instrument may correspond to it.
Match a separate recorded document
The County Auditor maintains recorded real-property instruments. The Recording Division page links a Recorded Document Search in the County’s Digital Research Room. The County doesn’t publish the year its online index begins, so for an older instrument ask staff whether it is indexed online or only in the office.
Use the card note to prepare a narrow identification packet:
- Document type suggested by the annotation.
- Parcel, address, and legal-description clue already documented.
- Approximate recording or card date.
- Any party name or recording reference shown.
- Exact uncertainty, such as two possible digits in a file number.
- Request for the indexed instrument and its recording identity, rather than an interpretation of property rights.
Contact the Auditor’s Licensing and Recording division at auditorcs@sanjuancountywa.gov or 360-378-2161 if the instrument cannot be identified from the documented route. A response may identify a record or another search key; it does not change what the assessor card itself says.
The Recording Division is at 350 Court Street, 1st floor, Friday Harbor (mail: P.O. Box 638, Friday Harbor, WA 98250). The Licensing and Recording counter is open Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Reconcile a fictional note and file
Imagine a fictional 1996 card with the handwritten note “utility easm’t, AFN 96-12?45.” The last uncertain digit makes a single guessed file number unreliable. Keep the card image number and raw notation, then request candidates matching the document type, approximate year, parcel, and readable digits.
If an instrument is found, compare its recorded identity and property description to the card. Save the instrument separately. If no instrument is identified, retain the annotation as an unresolved assessment note. Do not rewrite it as proof that an easement exists, no longer exists, or has a particular effect.
Before treating the annotation and instrument as the same event, compare their dates, legal-description wording, and document reference. A card update date can describe an assessment change; it is not automatically the instrument’s recording date. Keep a disagreement in the worksheet and ask the appropriate custodian to identify the missing link rather than choosing the date that fits your expected history.
Keep the card, instrument and permit apart
The three objects can coexist without answering the same question:
- Assessor card: tax-assessment notes, values, photographs, and other card-era observations.
- Recorded instrument: the filed document and recording identity maintained by the Auditor.
- Permit or inspection record: an issuing agency’s work authorization and later project events.
The published San Juan County pre-2010 permit guide covers older permit and final evidence. Use it only when the question leaves the land-record annotation and becomes a permit or occupancy search. The permit-number guide helps preserve identifiers without merging their record types.
For more information about the historical cards or related Archives records, contact the Washington State Archives Northwest Regional Branch at nwbrancharchives@sos.wa.gov or 360-650-3125. Ask the Archives about the card; ask the Auditor about the recorded instrument. These records do not prove permit issuance, inspection approval, occupancy approval, or the current legal effect of a land restriction.
Copies of the card itself follow the Washington State Archives fees: viewing and retrieval are free; paper copies are $0.15 a page, digital scans $0.10 a page, and a certification $5. Staff research beyond 15 minutes is billed at $30 an hour, and charges of about $5 or less are waived.
Sources: Washington State Archives Title 2671 and fee schedule, San Juan County Auditor Recording Division page, checked October 20, 2026.