GA Code § 12-6-9 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 12 - Conservation and Natural Resources|Chapter 6 - Forest Resources and Other Plant Life|Article 1 - Forest Resources|Part 1 - State Forestry Commission|§ 12-6-9. Acquisition of Land; Gifts of Land for Use as Lookout Tower Sites; Abandoned Tower Sites; Improvements on Land Subject to Reversionary Clause

  The commission shall have the right to acquire, in the name of the state, by purchase, lease, agreement, or condemnation, such land within the state as may be deemed necessary and proper. Condemnation proceedings shall be subject to the applicable provisions of law relating to the condemnation of property by the State of Georgia. The acquisition by the commission of any land, either by purchase or by condemnation, shall be construed as transferring a fee simple interest, unless the instrument conveying such interest, or the condemnation petition, clearly indicates otherwise.   The director, provided for in Code Section 12-6-11, is authorized to acquire in the name of the state, where the grantor makes a gift thereof to the state, small tracts of land not in excess of five acres, to be used as forest fire lookout tower sites. Title to such land may be conveyed by deeds containing reversionary clauses. Upon abandonment by the commission of such site after the site is no longer of use to it, the director is authorized to reconvey title by quitclaim deed to the grantor, his successors, or assigns, and the director is authorized to reconvey all tower sites subject to reversionary clauses which sites were acquired by the commission as gifts prior to March 3, 1955. However, in case of any abandonment or reconveyance under this subsection, the commission shall have the unqualified right to remove any improvements or fixtures, either temporary or permanent, placed on such property without regard to whether same would have, under general principles of law, become part of the realty, which right may be exercised any time before or a reasonable time after abandonment.   The director is authorized to improve with funds appropriated to the commission any real estate under its control or management which may be held under a deed containing a reversionary clause conditioned on the discontinuation of use for the purpose for which conveyed.    (Ga. L. 1925, p. 199, § 5; Ga. L. 1931, p. 7, § 21; Code 1933, § 43-205; Ga. L. 1937, p. 264, § 9; Ga. L. 1955, p. 309, § 18; Ga. L. 1956, p. 377, § 1; Ga. L. 1963, p. 615, § 1.)   OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL   Use of property conveyed to state limited.   - When property is conveyed to the state for use as a state forest, the property may not be used or leased by the state for any other purpose. 1945-47 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 324.    State may accept lease on property  when no valuable permanent improvements are to be placed on the land, and a policy of title insurance is procured. 1954-56 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 655.    Commission may accept and improve two-acre tract of land  if the deed of gift conveying the land provides that title will revest in the grantor upon abandonment of the property for forestry purposes. 1967 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 67-398.    Commission may market agricultural products  produced upon the lands and premises utilized by the commission. 1976 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U76-40.   RESEARCH REFERENCES   Am. Jur. 2d.   - 63C Am. Jur. 2d, Property, §§ 17, 18. 63C Am. Jur. 2d, Public Funds, § 33 et seq. 63C Am. Jur. 2d, Public Lands, § 40 et seq.   C.J.S.   - 36A C.J.S., Fixtures, §§ 55, 56. 67 C.J.S., Officers and Public Employees, §§ 363 et seq. 73 C.J.S., Public Administrative Law and Procedure, § 184. 73B C.J.S., Public Lands, § 294. 81A C.J.S., States, § 274.   ALR.    - Condemnation of premises or part thereof as affecting rights of landlord and tenant inter se, 163 A.L.R. 679.   Condemner's waiver, surrender, or limitation, after award, of rights or part of property acquired by condemnation, 5 A.L.R.2d 724.   Compensation for, or extent of rights acquired by, taking of land, as affected by condemner's promissory statements as to character of use or undertakings to be performed by it, 7 A.L.R.2d 364.   Admissibility, in eminent domain proceeding, of evidence as to price paid for condemned real property during pendency of the proceeding, 55 A.L.R.2d 781.   Admissibility, in eminent domain proceeding, of evidence as to price paid for condemned real property on sale prior to the proceeding, 55 A.L.R.2d 791.   Eminent domain: right of owner of land not originally taken or purchased as part of adjacent project to recover, on enlargement of project to include adjacent land, enhanced value of property by reason of proximity to original land-state cases, 95 A.L.R.3d 752.   Eminent domain: recovery of value of improvements made with knowledge of impending condemnation, 98 A.L.R.3d 504.   Eminent domain: possibility of overcoming specific obstacles to contemplated use as element in determining existence of necessary public use, 22 A.L.R.4th 840.   State statute of limitations applicable to inverse condemnation or similar proceedings by landowner to obtain compensation for direct appropriation of land without the institution or conclusion of formal proceedings against specific owner, 26 A.L.R.4th 68.