The federal government has agreed to a $3.6 million settlement with five homeowners whose land was seized for the Atlanta Beltline, according to the landowners’ attorneys.
All five lived on Flagler Avenue in the Piedmont Heights neighborhood in 2017 when they and other neighbors were ordered to remove property like fences, garages and gardens that sat in the way of the trail’s path.
A federal judge awarded the other neighbors $12 million last February after ruling that their property was illegally seized. The five homeowners who settled last month were part of a separate lawsuit that made similar arguments.
Attorney Meghan Largent, who represented both groups of homeowners, said the settlement and the earlier judgment were a long time coming.
“They should have been paid back in 2017 when it was taken,” Largent said in an interview.
The Atlanta Beltline wasn’t a party to either lawsuit and isn’t responsible for paying the homeowners. A spokeswoman said the trail system acted properly.
“Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. denies any suggestion that it did anything improper in connection with the development of the Atlanta BeltLine, including specifically denying that it improperly ‘seized’ land,” Meghann Gibbons said in an emailed statement.
The Beltline was envisioned as a 22-mile loop of pedestrian and light rail lines situated largely on abandoned railway lines. Trail construction began in 2008 and is about 80% complete.
“Rails to trails” projects like the Beltline are regulated by the National Trails System Act. The law allows abandoned lines to be converted to trails while preserving the federal government’s jurisdiction should it ever decide to use the land for railway use again.
The Flagler Avenue homes all back up against an old unused Norfolk Southern rail line and because of that, the homeowners’ land was subject to an easement for railway purposes. But they argued that under Georgia and federal law, the right-of-way only applied to rail use. It wasn’t transferrable for other uses when the feds gave the Atlanta Beltline the OK to turn the land into a trail.
The Beltline sued the neighbors in 2017 to get them to remove property on the former railway easement, and the homeowners lost the case in state court. The first group of neighbors then filed their claim for compensation under the National Trails System Act in federal court.
The second group of neighbors who just settled made similar claims.
The settlement represents the fair market value of the land, Largent said. It does not include any punitive damages.
There’s one remaining Flagler Avenue homeowner seeking compensation, Largent said. That case is ongoing.
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