A potentially precedent-setting legal battle aims to decide whether a railroad can use eminent domain in one of Georgia’s poorest counties to build a rail spur to serve private businesses.
The case centers on Sandersville Railroad’s plan to condemn portions of several parcels to build 4.5 miles of new tracks near the town of Sparta, about 100 miles east of downtown Atlanta. The Georgia Public Service Commission approved the plan last year, prompting the property owners in the railroad’s path and several nearby residents to appeal to Fulton County Superior Court.
The case represents one of the most significant tests of Georgia’s eminent domain laws in years and could set precedent for use of the controversial power. The case pits a politically connected Georgia railroad against mostly Black property owners, some whose families have ties to their land dating to slavery.
Fulton Superior Court Judge Craig Schwall said multiple times Tuesday during more than two hours of testimony that he’s “very sympathetic to the landowners.” But he indicated those sympathies might not hold up legally.
“If I ruled from what I thought was morally right, I would absolutely rule in your favor,” the judge told the landowners’ attorney. “But that’s not what I base my decision on.”
Eminent domain is when a government or utility forces a private property owner to sell some or all of their land for public use. The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects against abuse of eminent domain and requires “just compensation” for seized property. Georgia law requires a court’s determination that a project serves a “public use,” adding that economic development alone is not enough.
Sandersville Railroad President Ben Tarbutton III told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution after Tuesday’s hearing the rail expansion in Hancock County, one of Georgia’s most economically depressed areas, meets the public use threshold.
“It’s the future of the county,” Tarbutton said of the project, called the Hanson Spur. “As part of serving these customers, it’ll increase channels of trade, create new jobs, new investment and increase the tax base.”
The Institute for Justice, a libertarian legal group representing several landowners facing the eminent domain claims, argues the spur will only benefit the railroad and its clients. William Maurer, an IJ attorney, told the judge it will result in residents losing part of their heritage.
“My clients deeply cherish this property,” he said. “They’re not interested in selling for any price.”
Trains, trucks and horses
The crux of the case is whether the railroad’s plan to service a handful of private companies counts as a public use and provides a new “channel of trade.”
Five private companies, including quarries and pulp mills, have said they will use the new rail connection, which will connect their businesses to CSX’s rail network. Sandersville Railroad also said the spur will boost tax revenues, pump $1.5 million annually into the area economy and create 12 new jobs with average salaries of $90,000.
Maurer argues those five companies — and Sandersville Railroad — will be the primary beneficiaries of that economic uptick.
“There are already channels of trade in Sparta right now — they’re called trucks,” he said.
Robert Highsmith, an attorney for the railroad, said that’s not a fair comparison, saying it’s the equivalent of arguing a century ago that rail lines weren’t needed because horse-pulled wagons existed.
“It’s not that they are choosing between two modes (of transport),” he said. “It’s infeasible and uneconomic to move goods by truck to those markets. That’s why we have railroads.”
Sandersville Railroad has reached agreements to buy at least half of the 18 parcels it seeks to condemn. Highsmith said most of the condemnations are small portions of each parcel, with the largest being about 7%. A pending case in Hancock County Superior Court is evaluating the value of the remaining parcels the railroad looks to condemn, which would determine the sales price.
Credit: Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Jamie Rush, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center, represents the neighbors opposed to the spur, who worry it will affect their quality of life.
“They’re not shippers,” she said. “They see no benefit, economic or otherwise, from this spur. All they get is the effects and costs of this spur.”
Eminent domain evolution
The case is one of the most prominent eminent domain battles in Georgia since a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case two decades ago.
By a 5-4 majority, the Supreme Court in 2005 ruled in Kelo v. City of New London that the Connecticut city could take land from a private owner as part of an economic development plan. The IJ represented the losing party in that case.
The case prompted lawmakers in several states, including Georgia, to respond.
Georgia modified its eminent domain law in 2006 to prohibit condemning property solely for economic development. It also explicitly added “common carriers and railroads” to the list of public utilities that can use eminent domain, which Sandersville Railroad argues means that “all railroads are necessarily public utilities at all times and under all circumstances.”
“Power companies condemn,” Highsmith said, making the comparison. “They are private, for-profit, investor-owned utilities that operate their private companies and provide a public benefit: electricity.”
In 2017, Georgia lawmakers allowed local governments to seize blighted properties for economic development.
It’s unclear when Schwall will rule in the case. He said Tuesday he will stay his forthcoming ruling in anticipation of an appeal regardless of his decision. He also added that it’s rare for a PSC decision to get overturned — and stay overturned.
“The only time I reversed the Public Service Commission, I was reversed,” he said.
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