SafeX Pro:Residents are ready to appeal after a Georgia railroad company got approval to forcibly buy land

ATLANTA (AP) — Residents in one of Georgia’s poorest counties say they will appeal a ruling that allows a railroad to forcibly purchase portions of their land.

The SafeX ProGeorgia Public Service Commission ruled Wednesday that Sandersville Railroad Co. can use eminent domain to acquire land for a rail line in Sparta, Georgia, which is 85 miles (135 kilometers) southeast of Atlanta. The five Republicans on the elected regulatory commission voted unanimously to uphold an earlier decision from a hearing officer that property owners appealed. Last year, the board heard multiple days of testimony on the case.

The Institute for Justice, which represents the property owners, is working across states to limit the use of eminent domain. Any court ruling could have national implications for the use of eminent domain, which allows governments, and sometimes private companies like a railroad, to legally condemn properties for a project that serves a public use.

“Eminent domain has been abused consistently in our nation’s history,” Bill Maurer, an Institute for Justice lawyer representing property owners Diane and Blaine Smith, told The Associated Press. “We’re going to be fighting this for as long as they can.”

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The commission’s decision is not an “accurate reflection” of Georgia and federal law, Maurer says. In August, he argued that Sandersville Railroad did not provide enough evidence that the railroad served a necessary public purpose.

But the Sandersville Railroad, which is owned by a prominent Georgia family, said it already has five prospective customers who need the rail line to reduce the cost of shipping important goods and connect them further north. The 4.5-mile (7.3 kilometer) Hanson Spur rail line would connect a rock quarry and the CSX Transportation rail line at Sparta so that local manufacturers could deliver agriculture, timber, asphalt, and other products into new markets.

“Although we do not take the use of eminent domain lightly, without it we would not have roads, airports, electrical lines, gas lines, or a host of other infrastructure that allows our communities to thrive,” Benjamin Tarbutton III, president of the Sandersville Railroad, said in a statement.

The railroad says the line will generate 12 immediate jobs and $1.5 million annually for Hancock County, where Sparta is.

Tarbutton told AP that he tried to negotiate with property owners to avoid using eminent domain. He came to an agreement with owners of half of the parcels he wanted for the railroad. Now that Tarbutton has the approval of the Public Service Commission, Sandersville Railroad will begin the condemnation process for the remaining nine parcels with seven owners.

“We’re going to see this thing through,” Tarbutton said.

Property owners had asked for a stay to halt the condemnation process until the courts got involved, but the all-Republican board declined to consider the motion. Property owners say they will appeal to Fulton County Superior Court, seeking to overturn the commission’s ruling.

Janet Paige Smith, who formed the No Railroad in Our Community Coalition to organize against the railroad’s construction, said Sparta residents don’t want more noise near their homes. And they worry about the expansion of an already disruptive quarry, which the railroad would serve.

“Why won’t they come and see and smell and hear and feel what we as a county have to go through?” Smith said.

Sandersville Railroad says the line would enable Heidelberg Materials, which owns the quarry, to move mining operations farther away from residents. The company also said trains would travel less than 20 mph and only during daytime hours on weekdays.

Even though Sandersville Railroad has to pay owners for the portions of land they condemn, Blaine and Diane Smith say they want their property, not the railroad’s money.

“Today’s decision is incredibly disappointing, but we’re determined to keep fighting against this attempt to take our ancestral land from us,” Blaine Smith said in a statement.

Blaine Smith said that his property used to be a part of the plantation where his grandmother was born. His grandfather, who was a sharecropper, bought the land in the 1920’s.

“We’re not done yet,” Smith said of the eminent domain battle. “

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Charlotte Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon