Opinion ID: 1206965
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Permanent Nature of the Taking.

Text: Landowner contends that the taking is not permanent because The South Carolina Tricentennial Commission will terminate on January 1, 1972, under the terms of the enactments by which it has been created by the General Assembly. The Commission has been delegated the power of eminent domain, and the condemnation proceedings have been instituted to acquire the fee simple title to the lot of this landowner. That power was expressly granted to the Commission by the joint resolution of the General Assembly adopted in May of 1969. Joint Resolutiin R. 293, Acts of the General Assembly of 1969. Prior to that enactment the General Assembly provided that lands acquired with funds of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under Title VII of the housing act as amended upon the termination of the Commission shall be turned over to the State or such other governmental entity as the General Assembly may direct, to be preserved and used for park purposes. Acts of the General Assembly of South Carolina, 1968 No. 1384 Amending Act No. 925 of 1956, as amended. This lot is subject to these provisions since HUD funds will be used in the acquisition. The title being acquired in a condemnation proceeding is determined by the pleadings; the Petition and Declaration of Taking in this case contemplate a fee simple title being acquired from the landowner. The subsequent abandonment of the original purpose for which the lands were taken would not affect the validity of the condemnation. The validity of title is determined by the conditions existing at the time of the taking. Higginson v. United States , C.C.A. 6, 384 F. (2d) 504. But here the state and its delegated agency are precluded from any use of this property other than a permanent one by virtue of the contract with HUD and the act enacted pursuant to that contract. The taking in this instance is therefore a permanent one; even though the Commission will terminate in 1972, the property will remain vested in the state  just as much so as the state highways, the property of state universities or the lands of numerous commissions and agencies created by the General Assembly. The tract in this instance is being condemned by the state itself and will be preserved as a park. The taking is permanent in nature, and there is no basis for an injunction on the grounds that the taking is for a temporary use.