by Stanley Dunlap, Georgia Recorder [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]

August 13, 2024

State regulators are set to decide soon whether a Georgia short line railroad backed by one of the state’s best connected families should be allowed to force property owners in one of the state’s poorest counties to sell their land.

The battle that pits private property owners rights against a claim of public benefit that trumps them is expected to be decided in the coming weeks when the Georgia Public Service Commission rules in a case that could have longstanding ramifications on Georgia’s eminent domain law.

The five-member PSC will vote at an upcoming meeting whether to uphold April’s recommendation by an administrative hearing officer that allowed the Sandersville Railroad Co. to condemn 18 parcels in a rural predominantly Black Hancock County neighborhood in order to build a rail line extension to ship locally manufactured goods.

The state’s eminent domain law authorizes governments to seize land for public use for the purpose of building new roads, utilities, and other infrastructure.

The Sandersville Railroad Co., headed by Ben J. Tarbutton III, plans to construct the 4.5-mile Hanson Spur rail line that connects the Hanson Quarries and other manufacturing facilities with the CSX Transportation main line that allows trains to deliver granite, liquid asphalt, paper-quality wood chips and various other materials throughout the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.

Tarbutton is the grandson of a businessman who took over operation of the railroad in 1916 and it has been a prominent family business for more than a century.

On Aug. 6, the PSC heard oral arguments on the case from attorneys representing the property owners, a local community group  and the railroad company.

“The commission should allow the people whose property the railroad has threatened to condemn to keep what belongs to them no matter how much the railroad company and its network of interested companies desire to increase their profits,” said Bill Maurer, an attorney with the Institute for Justice, which is representing the property owners in the case.

“This is not just a question of our evidence versus their evidence. Instead, the railroad has failed to show either the most basic facts that this project constitutes a public use or is necessary to accommodate their business.”

The eminent domain rail expansion proposal came under increasing scrutiny two years ago when  a group formed the No Railroad In Our Community Coalition in support of the predominantly Black Sparta neighborhood.

The Sparta neighborhood’s landowners often feel a sense of connection to the properties they inherited from their families, such as the Smiths who inherited their property from their ancestors who were born into slavery on it, and the property of the Garrett family, who owned the land since the Civil War.

In the PSC hearing, Maurer argued that Sandersville did not provide enough expert reports, independent financial analyses, or counter-witness testimony that factored in the environmental and social harm caused by condemnation.

“What the railroad has produced is a sales pamphlet in an effort to provide a sufficient legal justification to use eminent domain to destroy the property, the peace of mind, and lives’ of these clients,” he said.

Sandersville lawyer Richard Hightower said it is likely that whoever loses the next round will appeal the PSC’s decision in court.

Jamie Rush, an  attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center representing the No Railroad group, said once condemned, the damage will extend to the property owners’ peace of mind, and familial heritage.

Sandersville attorney Robert Highsmith said last week the Sandersville company’s proposal serves a public purpose by opening a channel of trade that is going to be used by multiple customers to ship agricultural products, material from a nearby rock quarry and other manufacturing products.

“Every condemnation is a failure of a private owner’s rights but it is a recognition that a public use need is enough to justify the exercise of eminent domain,” Highsmith said. “Without it, we wouldn’t have airports, we wouldn’t have roads, wouldn’t have railroads, we wouldn’t have utility infrastructure, virtually every public infrastructure, some of which is operated by private companies, investor owned utilities and railroads.”

The Sandersville Railroad plan will cause irreversible damage properties that have been in families for generations in the predominantly Black neighborhood, Maurer said.

“That is a very good reason for a stay. What can be broken cannot be unbroken,” he said. “And that reason to wait until all of the courts have weighed in on this, especially when we’re dealing with such important pieces of property that means so much to my clients.”

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com. Follow Georgia Recorder on Facebook and X.