Months ago, Blaine Smith was afraid that the Georgia Court of Appeals would allow a railroad company to seize part of his family’s generations-old land.
That fear came true Wednesday when the court upheld a lower court’s decision to let Sandersville Railroad exercise eminent domain to take properties from several landowners in Sparta, Georgia, to build a rail spur.
The Smiths, along with other property owners, have been fighting back against the company for nearly three years. They argued the rail spur does not qualify as public use. They expressed their concerns about environmental hazards, noise pollution, and the importance of generational wealth to the Georgia Public Service Commission and Fulton County Superior Court. However, both sided with the railroad.
“This case has always been about protecting land that has been in my family for generations so we’ll continue to fight this for as long as we can,” Smith said in a statement. “But this is also about more than just my family’s land, it’s about protecting all Georgia property owners from this type of abuse.”
In a 14-page opinion, Presiding Judge Anne Elizabeth Barnes wrote that neither the Public Service Commission nor the Superior Court erred in their decision when they agreed the spur was public use. She suggested the property owners bring their issue to the state legislature or to the ballot box.
“The only remaining remedy for the landowners must lie with either the General Assembly, which passed the statutory scheme, or the public, who elect the member of the PSC charged with applying that scheme,” Barnes wrote.
But, the Smiths aren’t giving up.
Blaine’s wife, Diane Smith, told Capital B in February that she’s looking on the positive side.
“We’ve come this far for years, and this fight has not been an easy one, but I just trust that God is going to really hand us up the burden that we really deserve,” she said.
The property owners plan to ask the court to reconsider its decision, or they will take the issue to the Georgia Supreme Court for review. Currently, there is a stay in place, meaning the railroad cannot access the property owners’ land while the appeals process is ongoing.
Read More:
- Georgia Is Letting a Railroad Seize Land a Black Family Has Owned For 100 Years
- This Black Family Won’t Back Down After Court Allows Railroad to Take Their Land
- In 11 Minutes, These Black Landowners Lost Their Property to a Railroad
- Rural Georgia Community Keeps Fighting Despite Railroad’s Win to Take Their Land
- Why This Rural Community Is at War With a 130-Year Railroad Company
