SPARTA, Ga. — A controversial railroad that would cut through a historically Black neighborhood of Sparta was given another green light from the Georgia Public Service Commission on Thursday.
The Sandersville Railroad is trying to build a spur connecting to Hanson Quarry.
The dispute centers on eminent domain. That’s the law that allows governments to seize land, pay the landowner a fair sum for their property and build parks, schools or other public goods, even if the landowner doesn’t want to sell.
But the question at the heart of the case is whether or not the railroad project is enough of a public good. In the hearing, the public service committee sided with the railroad, but the property owners are saying they’ll take the case back to court.
“Georgia law does not permit a private company to take land through eminent domain unless the land will be put to a public use,” said Bill Maurer, attorney for the property owner. “Building a rail spur that will only be used by a few private companies, and not the public at large, is not a public use.”
The spur would be 4.5 miles and the railroad says they'll need 18 parcels of land to do it, according to previous reporting.
The landowners, many of whom have had the land in their family for generations, say the project would rip away their "ancestral land."
In an earlier hearing in April, a public hearing officer said using eminent domain to take the Sparta landowner's property served "a legitimate public purpose." They also said that they saw no legal reason to block the railroad project.
The hearing on Wednesday was the full Georgia Pubic Service Commission voting on that decision, and since they had already discussed it at a previous meeting, the board gave the project the green light after no further discussion.
In a statement, the Sandersville Railroad says the project would generate $1.5 million in economic benefit for Sparta and Hancock County.
But the property owners are not ending their fight. They vowed to appeal the Public Service Commission's decision in Fulton County Superior Court.