People ex rel. Department of Public Works v. Giumarra Farms, Inc.

Defendant property owner appeals from a judgment in condemnation wherein the jury found that the remaining property received special benefits in the sum of $26,250, resulting from the construction of the condemner’s improvements,

Before the commencement of these proceedings, defendant Giumarra Farms, Inc., owned a parcel of farm land consisting of 145.362 acres, situated west of Tehachapi and east of Bakersfield in Kern County. Prior to condemnation the land was bordered on the north by existing State Highway 58, known as the Edison Highway, on the east by Towerline Road, and on the south by Muller Road. Plaintiff condemner constructed on the parcel a four-lane limited access freeway running generally east and west and dividing the subject property into two remaining parcels, 33.43 acres to the north and 89.03 acres to the south. Condemner constructed a complex of on-and-off-ramps on the easterly edge of the subject property, which interchange served to funnel east and west bound freeway traffic to and from Towerline Road. The result of the construction is that both the northwest and southwest quadrants of the interchange are immediately contiguous to the remainder of…