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Coastal Georgia lawmakers are backing legislation that would make it easier for owners of marshland property under grants that date back to the 1700s to establish that ownership.
But opponents argue the bill would make the process so easy it would encourage false claimants to step forward and take advantage of state tax credits at the expense of the rightful owners of the environmentally fragile marsh – the public.
About 36,000 acres of coastal marshland in Georgia are privately owned, about 10% of the state’s total marshland, through titles that go back to grants from the English king or – later – a Georgia governor.
But when owners seek to establish clear title to their properties, they must navigate a cumbersome, expensive process through the state attorney general’s office that can take years to complete.
The foot-dragging by the state is on purpose, Jerry Williams, who owns a marshland tract on the Ogeechee River, charged Jan. 11 at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the bill. Any marshland not owned privately is owned by the state as a public trust.
“They throw everything at the law they can try to delay, to try to muddy the waters, to make it cost-prohibitive for a private landowner to defend their title.”
House Bill 370 would turn over the process of reviewing claims to marshland property to the State Properties Commission, which would have 180 days to decide whether a claim is valid.
“It places a shot clock on the review and response,” said state Rep. Matt Reeves, R-Duluth, the bill’s chief sponsor. As a lawyer and member of the Judiciary Committee, Reeves is working with a group of coastal House members to shepherd the legislation.
The Judiciary Committee passed the bill last year, but it made no further…
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