Section 33 Uses for Which Land Is Taken

• Library: Condemnation Practice 2009

Land that is acquired through condemnation can be used for all incidental purposes that are reasonably related to facilitate the purposes for which the land was purchased. Mo.-Kan.-Tex. R.R. Co. v. Freer, 321 S.W.2d 731 (Mo. App. S.D. 1958). Freer involved a railroad that had obtained a portion of right-of-way by grant, which granted surface rights only and reserved to the grantor rights to mine under the right-of-way and to build ponds, dump waste materials, and sink shafts on the right-of-way as long as the grantor did not unnecessarily impair the use of the right-of-way for railroad purposes. The court determined that the grant conveyed a restrictive use rather than a more general railroad purpose and that the railroad’s use of the property for the operation of sand and limestone stockpiling was a private use. The private use imposed an additional burden on the right-of-way that was not contemplated by the original grant, and even though a private individual may receive some benefit from the property, the primary use must be for the public. When the primary use is personal rather than public, it cannot be said that the use is consistent with the purposes for which the land was acquired.

When property is conveyed in fee for a public purpose through the use of a grant, it is incumbent on the grantors to reserve any rights, such as ingress and egress, that the grantors wish to retain in the...