On December 9, 2010, the City of Sandy Springs and two individual homeowners, John E. Balsam and Jerry Burnstein, collectively Sandy Springs filed suit against Fulton County, its Board of Commissioners, and its Director of Public Works. Specifically, Sandy Springs filed a petition for declaratory judgment, mandamus, and injunctive relief in which it asked the trial court to determine that Fulton County retained ownership of and responsibility for two drainage retention ponds and a dam located within Sandy Springs. On June 21, 2013, following a bench trial, the trial court found in favor of Sandy Springs, and Fulton County now appeals, contending that it is prohibited from maintaining the detention ponds pursuant to the Georgia constitution. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm in part and reverse in part.
The record shows that, in 1976, the land that is now Sandy Springs was a part of unincorporated Fulton County. As a result of drainage problems in and around Arlington Cemetery, several homeowners threatened Fulton County with a lawsuit. As part of the negotiations with the homeowners, Fulton County agreed to construct two detention ponds on the grounds of Arlington Cemetery. To accomplish this goal, Fulton County was granted two easements in order to build and maintain the water detention ponds. One easement grants the “right to erect, construct, reconstruct, replace, remove, maintain and use on said described property a dam and detention pond as Fulton County shall from time to time require as part of the public drainage system.” The easements “further grant to Fulton County the right of ingress to and egress from said described easement property over and across the land.”1 In addition to these easements, Fulton County also condemned a small parcel of land to enable construction of the ponds.
