Court Opinion

ID: 9568624
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:05:48.195849+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:51:03.754440
License: Public Domain

Eberhardt, Judge,
concurring in the judgment but dis-
senting in part. I concur in the judgment, but dissent from *105Division 1. The request to charge is abstractly correct but should be given only if there is evidence showing a reasonable probability of a demand for other uses. "Under proper evidence, in determining just and adequate compensation for property taken by eminent domain, the jury may consider the value of the property for uses other than that for which it was being used at the time of the condemnation. State Hwy. Dept. v. Robinson, 103 Ga. App. 12, 16 (118 SE2d 289). But the fact that one’s land 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. If there is not a present demand for such use, it must be made to appear that such use of the land is so reasonably probable as to have an effect on the present value of the land. State Hwy. Dept. v. Howard, 119 Ga. App. 298, 303 (167 SE2d 177); Ga. Power Co. v. Livingston, 103 Ga. App. 512, 513 (119 SE2d 802). In the present case there was evidence that the land in question was nicely wooded and physically suited for residential subdivision if such a demand ever arose. But the evidence fell far short of showing that such use was reasonably probable and had in fact affected the value of the land.” State Hwy. Dept. v. Hodges, 123 Ga. App. 806, 808 (182 SE2d 485).
While it is true that Code § 36-505 provides that "inquiry may be made as to all other legitimate purposes [than its agricultural or productive qualities] to -which the property could be appropriated,” the use is simply not a legitimate one unless there is a demand or reasonable probability thereof. For example, this land could be used for the construction of an office skyscraper, or for a cemetery, or for a myriad of uses for none of which there is any present or foreseeable demand, and such should not be considered as affecting its value. It is elemental that the charge should be adapted to the facts legitimately in evidence, and unless it is, it is error to give it.