Department of Transp. v. Brannan

The Georgia Department of Transportation DOT condemned 4.795 acres of an approximately 46-acre tract of land owned by Sara Brannan for public road purposes pursuant to OCGA § 32-3-1 et seq. A jury awarded Brannan $624,884 as just and adequate compensation. The DOT appeals, contending that the evidence did not authorize this amount. We find that it did and affirm. “There are two elements of just and adequate compensation for a partial taking of property by condemnation: 1 the market value of the portion actually taken; and 2 the consequential damage, if any, to the remainder.”1 An award in a condemnation case will not be set aside as inadequate or excessive where it is within the range allowed by the evidence.2

The DOT argues that the maximum award supported by the evidence was $483,470, the amount at which Brannan’s own expert appraiser arrived. According to that expert, the highest and best use of Brannan’s approximately 46-acre tract of land was mixed use. Using the sales comparison approach to value the subject property, Brannan opined that: a 1 acre, best used for a convenience store, was valued at $250,000; b 7.5 acres, best used for general commercial purposes, was valued at $100,000 per acre; and c 37.5 acres, best used for residential purposes, was valued at $15,000 per acre. The expert testified that the land acquired by the DOT consisted of 0.518 acres of residential land and 4.277 acres of general commercial land. He testified that the consequential damages to the remaining land amounted to $48,050. Thus, he calculated compensation at $483,520, the sum of the value of the land acquired $435,470 and the consequential damages $48,050.