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Final Copy 290 Ga. 662

S11A1740. GOODSON et al. v. FORD et al. NAHMIAS, Justice. This appeal involves three adjacent properties in rural Lee County owned by Appellants Roy and Ruth Goodson and Donald and Nancy Eller and Appellees Arthur and Donna Ford. All three properties descend from a common owner who recorded, but later withdrew, a subdivision plat that included the Goodson Property and the Eller Property. The Goodsons and Ellers claim the right to use all of "Carol Street," which, as shown on the subdivision plat, is a rectangular strip of land 60 feet wide by 418 feet long running between the Goodson and Eller Properties and connecting to Highway 32. In 2007, the Fords filed a petition to quiet title to the Ford Property, a 38.63-acre tract that includes Carol Street. The trial court quieted title to the Ford Property in the Fords, subject only to a 20-foot-wide easement in the Goodsons and Ellers for ingress and egress down the centerline of Carol Street from the end of their driveways to Highway 32. This appeal followed, and we now affirm.1
The trial court rejected the Goodsons' additional claim to an easement in a 20-foot-wide alley on the Ford Property just north of the boundary between the Goodson and Ford Properties.
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1.

In 1967, Nora Allen deeded the Eller Property to Carol Allen

Ranew, who in turn deeded it to Eugenia and Philip Truex in 1971. In 1972, Allen filed a subdivision plat for "Allen Acres" that showed Carol Street running between the Goodson and Eller Properties. In 1973, Allen deeded the Goodson Property to Mack Lamm, who in turn deeded it to Lloyd and Audrey Kimmel in 1975; both deeds incorporated the Allen Acres subdivision plat by reference. Zack Strickland bought the property to the east of the Eller Property around that time and noticed that Carol Street was mowed and that the property owners on either side used a dirt road down the center of it to access Highway 32 from their driveways. Every once in a while, Strickland also saw cars parked on the mowed area. In February 1977, Allen recorded an affidavit in the deed book stating her intent to withdraw the Allen Acres subdivision plat. Three months later, the Kimmels conveyed the Goodson Property to the Goodsons via a deed that incorporated the Allen Acres subdivision plat by reference. The Goodsons used Carol Street to access Highway 32, for the placement of residential dumpsters,

The Goodsons do not challenge this ruling on appeal. The Fords also have not cross-appealed the trial court's ruling regarding the 20-foot-wide ingress-egress easement.

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to store farm equipment like trailers and tractors, and occasionally for social events. The Eller Property was conveyed in 1977, 1986, 1989, and 1991 before being deeded to the Ellers in 1992. The deed to the Ellers incorporated by reference a recorded subdivision plat that identified Carol Street only as "Road." In 1993, Allen deeded the Ford Property to Henry Studdard. In 1997, the Ellers opened a daylily business, using Carol Street for customer parking, to receive deliveries, and to operate and store front-end loaders and other equipment. In 2007, Studdard deeded the Ford Property to the Fords, who visited the property two or three times before purchasing it. The Fords noticed that the Goodsons' and Ellers' driveways terminated on Carol Street, which they saw was mowed, and they observed the signs for the Ellers' daylily business. Soon after buying the Ford Property, the Fords asked the Goodsons and Ellers to stop using Carol Street for anything other than vehicle access from their driveways to Highway 32, but Appellants refused. On August 5, 2007, the Fords filed a petition to quiet title that included Carol Street. Appellants answered and counterclaimed, asserting title by adverse possession and easement rights.

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The trial court appointed a special master, who conducted an unreported evidentiary hearing and issued a stipulated report of the facts on March 26, 2010. On September 20, 2010, the special master filed a report and proposed order which, among other things, rejected Appellants' adverse possession claim and concluded that they have only a 20-foot-wide private way easement for ingress and egress down the centerline of Carol Street from the end of their driveways to Highway 32. After an unreported hearing, on May 2, 2011, the trial court adopted the special master's report and proposed order as the order of the court, holding that the 20-foot-wide easement down Carol Street "may be used solely for purposes of ingress and egress . . . and . . . may not be used for any other purpose, including, but not limited to, parking or maintenance or storage of farm equipment vehicles or goods." Appellants timely appealed. 2. Appellants claim that they acquired title to Carol Street by more than

20 years of adverse possession. See OCGA

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