At a hearing on Tuesday, questions were raised about a railroad company's right to expropriate property in one of Georgia's poorest areas.
After three days of hearings in November, a Georgia Public Service Commission official granted the Sandersville Railroad Co.'s request to legally expropriate nine properties in Sparta, Georgia. The commission's decision to accept or reject the official's recommendation could have implications for property laws across the country.
Sandersville, owned by a prominent Georgia family, wants to build a 4.5-mile-long (7.25-kilometer) line called the Hanson Spur that would connect to the CSX railroad line in Sparta, 84 miles (135 kilometers) southeast of Atlanta.
The hearing prompted Sparta's landowners to head north, some of whom could have their land expropriated, others who are neighbors who don't want a rail line near their backyard.
Lawyers for the property owners and the No Railroad in Our Community Coalition, which opposes the construction of the railroad line, say Sandersville has failed to meet the requirements of Georgia's expropriation law.
The law requires the company to prove the railroad serves a public purpose and the line is needed for business purposes. Although Sandersville brought five potential customers to the hearing, they did not provide signed contracts with the customers or the CSX railroad, said lawyers representing the property owners. A Sandersville spokesman said the owner has “made agreements” with potential customers.
Bill Maurer, lead attorney for the Institute for Justice, which represents the property owners, said Sandersville is for-profit, citing earlier testimony from Benjamin Tarbutton III, president of the Sandersville Railroad Co., who called the expansion an economic development project.
“It's a blatant shift of wealth from my clients to Sandersville and his small network of clients so that these companies can get even richer,” said Maurer, whose nonprofit organization fights for private property rights and against expropriation for private purposes.
Maurer added that Sandersville has not provided information on “basic issues” such as costs and expected loads. He also said the company never challenged a 50-page report from a railroad consultant that questioned the economic viability of the project.
But Robert Highsmith, a Sandersville attorney, pointed out that state law does not require the company to provide the analysis Maurer requested, except to show that the line is necessary for the company and public services.
Currently, potential users of the Hanson Spur railroad cannot transport products between areas best served by the CSX railroad. They can only transport their goods to the CSX railroad by truck, which Sandersville attorneys say is not economical.
“There are markets that Veal Farms cannot reach,” Highsmith said. “There are markets that Southern Chips cannot economically reach without access to the CSX mainline in eastern Georgia.”
Sparta residents also fear that the railroad would allow the expansion of a nearby quarry, which creates noise and dust. One resident, 59-year-old Kenneth Clayton, said the quarry's activities caused the ceiling of his house to collapse.
The quarry is owned by Heidelberg Materials, a listed German company, and Tarbutton has said it is considering expanding the quarry so that the noisiest phases of operations can take place further away from the current site.
Quarry or not, Blaine Smith said nothing would make him give up this part of his land voluntarily. The property in Sparta has been in his family for several generations.
“I grew up on the farm, we were all out in the fields, all that land over there where the railroad is going to go,” Smith said.
Today, Smith grows timber on the land and relaxes by the property's pond. He and his wife, Diane, live in Maryland but come to Sparta several times a year.
The couple may return to Sparta permanently, but they also want to protect their land for future generations of black farmers – a small part of an already shrinking farming population.
Diane Smith found Tarbutton's behaviour towards them “arrogant”. It “made her blood boil” when he sent them notices to take possession of the property before he had full legal authority to do so, she said.
Sandersville Railroad Co. officials said Tarbutton tried to reach an agreement with the Smiths and traveled to Maryland to meet with family members. The company made “accommodating adjustments” to the railroad at their requests and reached agreements with the owners of nine of the 18 parcels of land the company needs.
Sandersville would be legally obligated to pay fair market value for any land it expropriates through the foreclosure process.
But the Smiths said it wasn't about the money.
“We don’t want that in our yard – or anywhere where we can hear it or see it,” Blaine Smith said.
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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 under-the-radar issues. Follow Kramon on X: @ckramon
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