State regulators are set to decide soon whether a Georgia short line railroad backed by one of the state’s best connected families should be allowed to force property owners in one of the state’s poorest counties to sell their land.
The battle that pits private property owners rights against a claim of public benefit that trumps them is expected to be decided in the coming weeks when the Georgia Public Service Commission rules in a case that could have longstanding ramifications on Georgia’s eminent domain law.
The five-member PSC will vote at an upcoming meeting whether to uphold April’s recommendation by an administrative hearing officer that allowed the Sandersville Railroad Co. to condemn 18 parcels in a rural predominantly Black Hancock County neighborhood in order to build a rail line extension to ship locally manufactured goods.
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