Victor Khvoroff, a cattle rancher in Randle, stands along the Cowlitz River, which runs through a portion of his 400-acre ranch.
A court date has been set for the dispute between the Washington State Department of Transportation and the Randle rancher whose property the agency is trying to condemn.
Victor Khvoroff has owned his ranch outside of Randle for 24 years. For nearly as long as he’s owned it, he’s watched one bend of the Cowlitz River migrate hundreds of feet across his land, to now sit just feet from U.S. Highway 12.
He said he tried multiple times over the years to work with the state to slow the river’s progress, but only now, when the Cowlitz started to threaten the highway, has the state taken action.
The Washington State Department of Transportation wants to use eminent domain law to condemn some of Khvoroff’s property and force him to sell them about 10 acres of land to protect the road. A condemnation hearing between the two parties is set for Jan. 2.
WSDOT officials argue the situation is unavoidable, that they won't take more than they need and they'll pay the fair market value.
The agency plans on installing roughened logs, rocks, rootwads and barbs along 1,950 linear feet of riverbank; resloping the land above the water and planting a variety of broadleaf maple and other riparian plants along about seven acres of land around the river as a buffer between it and his cattle. The remaining three acres the department is seeking are submerged under the river.
"We have to balance the needs of the highway while being responsible stewards for the environment," said WSDOT spokesman Bart Treece in a previous interview. "We could dump a bunch of rocks into the water but that's not responsible."
Khvoroff agrees the river needs to be stopped, but he said he doesn’t want to be forced into selling the state the 10 acres because it goes well beyond what’s necessary to protect the highway.
He argues that WSDOT's plans will effectively cut his ranch in two. If the state gets its way, he’ll have to move his equipment and cattle a greater distance across the highway than he already does.
WSDOT recently said it would grant him a crossing easement through the area, only if there is a minimum of 10 feet of earth remaining between the highway and the riverbank. There are no guarantees.
“We understand that Mr. Khvoroff is fully aware of the risk that the Cowlitz River will erode the bank to a point that a crossing easement is not practicable,” said a letter from the Washington Attorney General’s Office to Khvoroff’s attorney, Mark Scheibmeir.
Khvoroff suspects there's more to the sale than the agency is revealing. Although state law prohibits agencies from condemning property for conservation purposes, he questions why several other agencies, including the Department of Ecology and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, are included in the paperwork he’s receiving in the case that is supposed to be between him and WSDOT. He doesn’t appear to be alone.
In a letter addressed to another attorney, Scheibmeir writes about the upland condemnation of Khvoroff’s land.
“This will raise an interesting legal question as to whether any such condemnation is for the protection of Highway 12 or is instead an attempt to establish a river conservation area (at the request of either DNR or Fish and Wildlife — neither of which have authority to condemn for conservation purposes).”
Scheibmeir won’t be representing Khvoroff at the hearing, and at this point it’s unclear who will. Khvoroff said he’s spoken with numerous attorneys from around the state about the issue and has reached out to several organizations that might help provide counsel, but getting a hold of anyone around the holiday season is difficult and expensive.
“One 25-minute phone call cost me $700,” he said.
Although he could settle with WSDOT and be paid thousands of dollars for the land and move on, he is not going to. With the questions looming about how a state can legally condemn property, there’s too much at stake.
“I’m not going to give them this land,” he said. “They’ll have to go through the condemnation process.”
