Inland port meeting planned for Saturday

Published 9:49 pm Tuesday, April 5, 2016

An inland port planned for the Crandall area will have a big impact not just on northern Murray County but on the larger region, says Michael Jones of North Georgia Citizens to Preserve the Environment.

“The trucks taking things to and from that port will be traveling from outside Murray County and going through other communities,” he said.

The group is hosting a community forum on the port on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Tennga Baptist Church Fellowship Hall, at 257 Tennga Gregory Road, and Jones said residents from across the area are invited.

Jones said the group has invited J.D. Rogers, a Kennesaw-based attorney, to speak to the group and answer questions.

“He’s going to explain what powers the Georgia Ports Authority has and what it can do,” Jones said.

Jones said that, in particular, he expects people to be interested in the ports authority’s power of eminent domain and if that will be used to take land besides that already acquired for the port.

Gov. Nathan Deal announced the Appalachian Regional Port in July at the Murray County courthouse, where officials from the state, the ports authority, CSX  and Murray County signed a memorandum of understanding for the port.

Officials with the ports authority said they looked across north Georgia at different sites and chose the one in Murray County because it was flat but not too wet, of a sufficient size, and had road access but also had separation between the road and the railroad so that vehicles entering the site won’t have to cross the railroad tracks.

Commercial trucks will drop off and pick up loads at the port, which will be connected to the Port of Savannah by CSX railroad.

The port, expected to be operational in 2018, will be built on 42 acres of cattle pasture just off U.S. 411 near the Petty-Fairy Valley Park.

The port is expected to cost $24 million, with about $10 million from the state, $7.5 million from the ports authority to develop the site, $5.5 million from CSX and some $1 million from Murray County.

Officials say the port will be a hub for economic development, but some residents of the area say they fear the impact the port will have on the quiet, rural community nestled near the Cohutta Wilderness Area and the Chattahoochee National Forest.

“I’m not opposed to the port. I am opposed to the location,” said Jones.

Organizers of the meeting say children are welcome and refreshments will be served.