(a) Subject to any other statute relating to the acquisition of property, any person authorized to acquire property for a particular use by eminent domain may exercise the power of eminent domain to acquire property necessary to carry out and make effective the principal purpose involved including but not limited to property to be used for the protection or preservation of the attractiveness, safety, and usefulness of the project.
§ 1240.120.Acquisition of Property Necessary to Carry Out and Make Effective Principal Purpose
Title 7. Eminent Domain Law · Chapter 3. The Right to Take · Article 2. Rights Included in Grant of Eminent Domain Authority · Enacted 1975 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 29, 2026
In one sentenceSection 1240.120 authorizes a condemnor to acquire property necessary to carry out and make its principal project effective, including land meant to protect the project's attractiveness, safety, or usefulness, and permits later selling, leasing, or exchanging that property subject to protective restrictions.
Full Text of § 1240.120
(b) Subject to any applicable procedures governing the disposition of property, a person may acquire property under subdivision (a) with the intent to sell, lease, exchange, or otherwise dispose of the property, or an interest therein, subject to such reservations or restrictions as are necessary to protect or preserve the attractiveness, safety, and usefulness of the project.
Plain-English Summary
A project's core footprint isn't always the whole story. Section 1240.120 lets a condemnor reach beyond the property strictly needed for its principal purpose and acquire additional property necessary to carry out and make that purpose effective. The statute specifically mentions property used to protect or preserve a project's attractiveness, safety, and usefulness.
Subdivision (b) then allows the condemnor to treat that ancillary property as something other than a permanent holding. It may later sell, lease, exchange, or otherwise dispose of the property, subject to whatever procedures normally govern disposing of public property, so long as any reservations or restrictions attached to the disposal still protect the project's attractiveness, safety, or usefulness.
This is a narrower cousin of the excess-condemnation authority in § 1240.410. Where Article 5 addresses uneconomic remnants left after a taking, § 1240.120 addresses property acquired up front because the project itself needs it, even if that property isn't the project's primary site.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a condemnor take more property than the immediate project site?
Yes, if that additional property is necessary to carry out and make effective the project's principal purpose, including protecting its attractiveness, safety, or usefulness.
Can the condemnor later get rid of that additional property?
Yes. Subdivision (b) allows selling, leasing, exchanging, or otherwise disposing of it, subject to applicable disposal procedures and to restrictions that protect the project.
How is this different from excess condemnation under Article 5?
Section 1240.120 covers property necessary to the project's own effectiveness; Article 5's excess condemnation instead covers uneconomic remnants left over after a taking, addressed starting at § 1240.410.
Amendment History
Added by Stats. 1975, Ch. 1275.
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the Deering's California Codes Annotated / vLex. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 29, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: ancillary property eminent domain californiaacquiring property to support public project california