Aponte v. City of Columbus

Mikell, Judge.

In a prior action concerning the real property at issue in this case, we held that the legislature had not endowed the Columbus Airport Commission with the authority to condemn property for airport purposes. In so holding, however, we noted that Columbus, a consolidated city-county government, has the constitutional right to exercise the power of eminent domain. Columbus then filed a declaratory judgment action against the owners, Antonio Lopez Aponte and Catherine E. Lopez, seeking access to the property in order to conduct a pre-condemnation survey and appraisal. Columbus had…