O.C.G.A. § 32-7-5 (2019)

(a) In order that any interest in real property acquired for public road or other transportation purposes may be used most economically, the department, counties, or municipalities, in addition to the authority granted in Code Section 32-7-3 to dispose of property no longer needed and in subsection (b) of Code Section 32-3-3 to exchange property, may, notwithstanding Article 2 of Chapter 16 of Title 50, the ‘‘State Properties Code,’’ improve, use, maintain, or lease any interest in property acquired for public road or other transportation purposes that is not presently needed for such purposes. (b) If the department, a county, or municipality decides to lease any such property or interest therein, the owner of such property at the time of its acquisition or his successor in interest shall have the right to lease such property at an appraised fair market value to be determined by the department, county, or municipality for such period of time until the property is needed for public road or other transportation purposes. However, if at the time of acquisition such property was leased to a tenant, the tenant, instead of the owner or his successor in interest, shall have the first right to lease such property at the appraised fair market value. If the owner, his successor in interest, or the tenant of the property does not lease such property, the department, county, or municipality shall have the right to lease such property at a price equal to the highest sealed public bid, if the bid is acceptable to the department, county, or municipality, for such period of time until the property is needed for public road or other transportation purposes. If no bids or bids which are insufficient are received, the department, county, or municipality may readvertise for new public bids. The department, county, or municipality may negotiate a lease with any state or federal agency, county, or municipality without the aforesaid requirement of sealed bids or leasing to the former owner. The department, county, or municipality shall have the right to impose reasonable restrictions, terms, or conditions on the use of such leased property. (c) Separate and distinct from the department’s authority to lease property in subsection (b) of this Code section, the department has the authority to negotiate a lease of any property contained within the rights of way of any nonlimited-access public road and not presently needed for public road purposes or rights of way under bridges or viaducts on limited-access public roads and not presently needed for public road purposes. If the department decides to lease any such property, the property shall be leased, at an appraised fair market value

to be determined by the department, to the owner or the lessee of the property adjacent to the department’s rights of way for the purposes of parking. Such property shall only be used for the purposes of providing parking and shall not be subleased without the department’s prior approval. Plans for the use of said property must be submitted to and approved by the department prior to any construction. Regardless of any financial expenditures by the lessee, no lease granted under this subsection shall merge into and become a property interest of the lessee or a sublessee. The department shall reserve the right to terminate any lease without cause upon 30 days’ written notice to the lessee. Notwithstanding any provisions of Code Section 48-2-17, all net revenues derived from the lease of any of the department’s property used for the purposes of providing parking shall be utilized by the department to offset the cost of maintaining the public roads of the state. (d) Unless said property or interest therein is leased to a tax-exempt person or body, it shall be subject to all applicable taxes, both real and personal. (e) The department or any county or municipality may negotiate a lease with any state or federal agency, county, or municipality for the use of the property for any purpose for which the agency, county, or municipality may put property it owns in fee and without complying with the requirement for sealed bids or leasing to the former owner contained in this Code section.