Eminent Domain?

[Stacy Carroll]

Jurisdiction

Georgia

We live on a dirt section of a county maintained road. The paved portions of the road have fee simple rights of way, the dirt portion has a prescriptive right of way, 35 feet in width. The old bridge over a creek near our property was condemned in 2014 and closed to all traffic since. That left us as the only people living on the western end of the road, a one mile portion. The other end of the road (across the bridge from us a mile and a half) is in a pretty rough neighborhood with a recent murder at a nightclub there. The road on that side ends at a state highway. There is another county road intersecting in that neighborhood that also goes to that highway. The county did nothing when a quarry expanded and did away with the intersecting road. Now that neighborhood only has one way in/out. The county wants to "acquire" part of my property to build a new bridge "in the interest of public safety". The county administrator himself came to me to negotiate. After I was lied to multiple times, I told them to go build their bridge over the @#!#$% quarry. Why do we have to lose land, etc. when the county already had another way in/out that they allowed to be destroyed? My guess is that I am a bug that will be squashed by eminent domain. Is that a pretty fair assumption?

 

[Tax Counsel]

My guess is that I am a bug that will be squashed by eminent domain. Is that a pretty fair assumption?

I suggest you see a real estate attorney about that. Most attorneys will give you a free or low fee initial consultation and you can find out your options better that way than here. But if the county properly invokes its right of eminent domain then you'll not be able to avoid losing that chunk of property. There are certain things that the county has to do, though, to get it right. That's what the lawyer you consult can help you with.

 

[OldSurveyor]

Excellent advice to get an attorney.

You have a number of rights, but none will likely be available to you without legal representation.

You have a right for the legal process to be routed into a jury trial. I have seen that work quite well in my own experience. You have a right to dispute any appraisal of the compensation for the take by providing your own expert appraiser, all at your expense, of course.

But understand that an appraiser might see the construction of a new bridge as enhancing the value of your property. I have seen that too. I have seen one dollar awards.