Georgia case over railroad’s use of eminent domain could have property law implications

ATLANTA– It’s a fight for land in one of Georgia’s poorest rural areas, but it could impact property rights across the state and country.

A hearing will be held Monday to help determine whether a railroad company can legally condemn property to build a 4.5-mile rail line that would serve a quarry and possibly other industries.

A hearing officer will spend up to three days of testimony, making a recommendation to the five elected members of the Georgia Public Service Commission, who will ultimately decide.

The line would be built by the Sandersville Railroad, owned by an influential Georgia family. It would connect to the CSX railroad at Sparta, allowing products to be shipped on a large scale. Sparta is located approximately 85 miles southeast of Atlanta.

People in the rural area don’t want a train track running through or near their property, partly because they think it would allow expansion at a quarry owned by Heidelberg Materials, a publicly traded German company.

Some residents already hate the quarry because it generates noise, dust and truck traffic. Supporters say if the rail line is built, it will move quarry operations further from homes, fewer trucks will use the roads and the rail line will build berms to protect residents.

But owners say the loss of a 200-foot-wide strip of land to the railroad would devastate the land they cherish for its tranquility, hunting, fishing and family heritage.

“Sandersville Railroad does not care about the destruction of my family’s property or our way of life,” Donald Garret Sr., one of the owners, said in written testimony in August. “They only care about their own plans for my property, which will not serve the public but will only help them expand their business and that of the quarry.”

Opponents have powerful allies, including the Institute for Justice, which hopes to use the case to chip away at eminent domain: the government’s power to legally take private land for fair compensation.

The libertarian-leaning legal group found itself on the losing side of a landmark 2005 case that allowed the city of New London, Connecticut, to take land from a private owner and transfer it to another private owner in the name of economic development. The decision caused a widespread backlash, with more than twenty states passing laws to restrict eminent domain.

Railroads have long had the power of eminent domain, but Georgia law says such land seizures must be for “public use.” Opponents targeted the project, saying it would only benefit the quarry and does not meet the definition of public use.

“This is not taking into account the need for private property owners to truly serve public interests and the public as a whole. This is more of a naked wealth transfer,” Daniel Kochan, a law professor at George Mason University in Virginia, testified for opponents.

The Sandersville Railroad says there are other users, including a company located next to the quarry that mixes gravel and asphalt for paving. Several companies have said they would transport products from the Sandersville area and load them onto the short line, noting they want access to CSX, but opponents question whether that business will materialize.

The case is important because private entities must condemn private lands not only to build railroads, but also to construct other facilities such as pipelines and electrical transmission lines. There is a particular need to build additional electric transmission lines in Georgia and other states to transport electricity from new solar and wind generation.

Sandersville Railroad President Ben Tarbutton III said in testimony that the Institute for Justice is engaged in “transparent efforts to change federal and state constitutional law regarding sentencing.”

Others living nearby, organized as the No Railroad In Our Community Coalition, are represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Janet Paige Smith, a leader of the group, testified that the railroad would further burden a neighborhood with many black retirees on fixed incomes.

“We already suffer from traffic, air pollution, noise, debris, waste and more from the Heidelberg Quarry, but this project would make everything worse,” Smith testified.