Atlanta (AP) — The judge ruled that the Georgia Railroad could buy land against the will of the owners to build a track, rejecting the challenge of liberal groups hoping that it could make outstanding areas more difficult to adopt property.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Craig Schwall Sr. ruled Tuesday that the Sandersville Railroad could condemn the 200-foot (60-meter) wide property for a 4.5-mile (7.3-km) ride ) to build a railway line serving rock quarries and other users. The landowner fighting the railroad has appealed to the Georgia Public Service Commission to allow land occupation.
Schwall has been building the freeze at the moment, and landowners say they will appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.
True news and daily joy, just in your inbox
Watch it for yourself – Yodel is the go-to for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories.
The case is important because private entities need to condemn private land, including pipelines and electric power transmission lines, including railways and facilities.
The Sandersville Railroad, owned by an influential family in Georgia, hopes to connect the quarry to Sparta’s CSX railroad, allowing products to be transported extensively. Sparta is one of Georgia’s poorest counties, located in most black country towns about 85 miles (135 kilometers) southeast of Atlanta.
Sandersville reached some of the 18 packages needed to purchase. But other owners say losing one property will destroy the land they cherish, and some families owned it for a century.
“It’s a wonderful day for Sandersville not to enter our land every day and start building,” one of the owners, Diane Smith, said in a statement. “But unless we’re sure they’re always We cannot take our land from us, otherwise we will not rest easily.”
Railroad attorney Brian Brodrick urged opposition owners to “return to the negotiation table so that we can bring new new to all citizens in Hancock County and the area. Opportunities and trade channels. “There will be “minimum impact” on neighbors.
Some in rural communities believe that the railway will expand the quarry owned by Heidelberg Materials, a publicly traded German company. They don’t like quarries because it creates noise, dust and truck traffic.
Supporters say if the railway is built, the quarry will run it away from the house, trains will reduce trucks on the road, while the railway will build fireplaces to cover up residents.
Railroad has long had outstanding fields, but Georgia law says this land seizure must be used for “public use.” Opponents are targeting the project, saying it will only benefit the quarry. Sandersville Railroad said there were other users, including a company that blended gravel and asphalt to pave roads in quarries. Several companies said they would load their truck products onto the new product line, saying they hope to enter the market for CSX services.
Schwall found the railroad met public use standards, saying it was “operation” of Sandersville and “a public purpose as well as it would provide trade channels in eastern Georgia.”
The group representing opponents, the Institute of Justice, hopes to use this case to cut cases in outstanding areas (the power to legally occupy private land) while paying fair compensation.
The liberal-leaning legal group lost its landmark 2005 case, allowing the city of New London, Connecticut to seize land from one private owner and transfer it to another for economic development. Schwart cites the case in his ruling.
“We remain committed to proving to the court that the desire of private railroads to build a speculative new line is entirely to make the interests of a few private companies, not the U.S. and Georgia Constitution and Georgia’s outstanding field laws,” Judge Attorney Bill Moller (Bill Maurer) said in a statement.
