A Peach County jury returned a verdict in favor of Patten Seed Company for the value of condemned land taken from the company by the Georgia Department of Transportation “DOT” for highway expansion, and the court entered a final judgment in the amount of $996,430.01.1 The DOT appeals from the final judgment, contending the court erred in admitting speculative valuation testimony, in excluding rebuttal testimony, and in charging the jury. Finding no error, we affirm. 1. The DOT contends the court erred in allowing Patten Seed’s witnesses to give speculative valuation testimony on the potential commercial uses of the property condemned. Specifically, the DOT contends the court erred in allowing testimony showing that the property had a higher value based on evidence that commercial use was feasible given the possibility of a change in zoning, the possibility of a grant of a setback line variance, and the possibility of connecting the property to public water and sewer services. With respect to the admission of such valuation testimony, we have held:In all cases, the only question for decision is the value of property taken or consequential damages at the time of taking. The fact that the property is merely adaptable to a different use is not in itself a sufficient showing in law to consider such different use as a basis for compensation; it must be shown that such use of the property is so reasonably probable as to have an effect on the present value of the land. Even where a different use is shown to be reasonably probable, the jury cannot evaluate the property as though the new use were an accomplished fact; the jury can consider the new use only to the extent that it affects the market value on the date of taking. Condemnees’ expert could give his opinion of the value of the land on the date of taking based upon its enhanced value because of its adaptability as a commercial property; he could not testify as to the value before and after the taking based upon his assumption of the value as if the property had already been commercially developed, but where he gives reasons which appear to be wholly speculative or conjectural, his opinion is without foundation and without probative value.Citation and punctuation omitted. Ga. Transmission Corp. v. Barron , 255 Ga. App. 645, 647 566 SE2d 363 2002.
The record reveals that on January 22, 2001, the DOT condemned 15.172 acres of Patten Seed Company’s 280-acre sod farm located in the southeastern quadrant of the intersection of Interstate 75 and Georgia Highway 96 in Peach County. The property condemned included a level strip of land 125 feet deep with 3400 feet of frontage on Highway 96. Patten Seed’s owner testified that the company bought the property as an investment, anticipating commercial growth, and that he had been contacted frequently by brokers and developers interested in listing or purchasing the property. Patten Seed’s valuation experts testified that the highest and best use for most of the property the 11.6 acres comprising the strip with frontage was as a commercial property, and based on a review of comparable parcels, opined that the value of that property at the time of the taking was approximately $45,000 to $48,848 per acre.
