Vancouver Washington Eminent Domain | Blue Bridge Pipeline Project

The Blue Bridge Pipeline project is a joint venture between Williams' Northwest Pipeline and Puget Sound energy to construct a pipeline to transport natural gas from Stanfield, Oregon to the Pacific Northwest. The project will involve the construction of up to 157 miles of 30 inch or 36 inch diameter pipeline. Construction is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2012, assuming all environmental and permitting requirements are fulfilled. General information about the Blue Bridge Pipeline can be found here.

A map of the Blue Bridge Pipeline Project can be found here. The red indicates where the new pipeline will be going. This means that landowners in Benton County and Klickitat County, including the towns of Plymouth, Roosevelt, and Goldendale, and Skamania County and Clark County, including the towns of Willard and Washougal, and Lewis County, including the town of Chehalis, could potentially be subject to eminent domain for these projects.

The interesting thing about this project is where the Blue Bridge Pipeline will be located. Although it is expected to run next to an existing pipeline, the land required for the new pipeline is not within Williams' Northwest's easement. What does this mean? The threat of eminent domain along the entire pipeline corridor is a real possibility. And Williams' Northwest acknowledges this in response to an editorial on Columbian.com on April 2, 2009. You can see the response here, but this is the response, in full:

As an agent for The Williams Companies, Inc., I’d like to respond to Brenda Lexa’s March 11 letter, "Pipeline route hasn’t been decided," regarding how we will acquire land rights on the Blue Bridge Pipeline project. When selecting a route, we try to minimize the impact to landowners and the environment. If landowners have concerns about the route through their property, we’ll look for opportunities to move the route to another part of their property.

We’ve contacted landowners about surveys; however, acquisition will not begin until fall 2010. Offers to secure land rights are based on practices typically used by appraisers to determine fair market value. Landowners are encouraged to review the offers, consult with an appraiser or attorney, and provide the Williams’ land agent with supporting material helpful in determining final compensation.

Landowners are concerned over the use of eminent domain. We negotiate fairly and equitably. We recognize our responsibilities to communities and landowners we affect.

Visit the project at www.bluebridgepipeline.com.

Rodney Gregory
Redmond

Now, what this response fails to outline fully is that Williams' Northwest will most likely have the power of eminent domain, and will use it if they have it. Not only does this greatly alter the leverage of the parties, it creates a situation where it is more likely that landowner will not be treated fairly.

As I've outlined previously, in cases like this, where only a portion of the land is going to be taken Washington eminent domain valuation goes something like this: take the value of the entire parcel before the taking, minus the value of what is left after the taking, and you have the value of what has been taking. Naturally, the people that want your property are in favor of the pipeline, meaning their views of the detrimental effects of the pipeline to your property will probably be written off as negligible.

However, in reality, the effects to your property can be quite large. Damage to irrigation systems and wells, damage due to crop loss (both existing crops and the inability to farm the land lost in the future, including irrigation paths and other issues), soil compaction, utility corridor, stray voltage, stigma factors, severance of your property, literature, and terrorist potential all have the possibility of negatively affecting the value of your remaining property. These factors should be seriously considered when valuing your property, and I am fairly confident they will not be discussed in the pipeline's appraisal of your Clark, Klickitat, Lewis, and Skamania County property (you can ask for a copy of their appraisal, and if they are sincere in what they say they will give you one - this information is vital to adequately negotiating the sale of your property).

The one thing I agree with from the editorial response is this: you need to get an experienced Washington eminent domain lawyer to help you through this process. By law, you get $750 to have your offer reviewed, and although it will cost more than that to have a lawyer represent you through the entire process, the difference in value received can be exponential. Thousands of dollars could be left on the table without the help of a professional to negotiate the sale of your property that is subject to eminent domain.

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Condemning authorities have attorneys working for them, and so should you. If your Washington land is being taken by eminent domain please contact a Washington State eminent domain attorney for a consultation today.

Seattle Washington Eminent Domain Law | Land Values

If you are reading this you probably live in Washington State, maybe even Seattle, and your property is being condemned, or taken thorough the power of eminent domain. Assuming your property is being taken for a public purposes (a road, government building, environmental mitigation, etc.) it is time to find a Washington State eminent domain lawyer to help you through this process.

As soon you hire a condemnation attorney to assist you, the first thing they will do related to getting you the money you deserve for the taking of your property is try to determine what the value of your property is as a whole. So, for example, if you have agricultural ground, your attorney will try to determine what the agricultural land prices are in your area. If it is your home, residential prices will be examined, and so on.

The first thing your Seattle eminent domain lawyer will do is call the condemning authority and ask them for a copy of their appraisal of your property. To determine what you should be paid, an appraisal of your property must be completed. And, as you might expect, often these appraisals are riddled with errors. For the purposes of this post we are going to discuss the errors related to comparable sales.

The primary way the value of your property is determined is to look at other properties in the area that are similar to yours and see what they are going for. Then, depending on how similar your property is to the comparable property, adjustments will be made up and down to determine the value of your property.

For example, let's say you have a three bedroom townhouse in Wallingford, Seattle, Washington. The City of Seattle needs to take your house for the Seattle light rail project. The first thing they would do is hire an appraiser to go and look at recent sales in the area to find out what your house is worth. If they find a sale that say is in a similar location to yours but only has 2 bedrooms, they would then adjust the price of that home up to reflect the extra bedroom.

What? Where do they get the adjustment determination? Glad you asked. They make it up based loosely on the sales they see and their experience as appraisers. That is correct, your land is subject to a Washington eminent domain taking and the adjustments that will have a direct determination on your home value are extremely subjective. This is why you need to hire an expert in eminent domain - they have the experience necessary to see the holes in this evaluation and point those out to the people writing the check.

Another thing a condemnation lawyer can do for you is do the research required to make sure they didn't miss any properties that may help determine what your property is worth and that no other properties have sold in the meantime that increase the value of your property. In the example above, one single sale in the area for a high value could substantially affect the value of your home in an upward direction. We can find that sale (if it exists) and present it to the condemning authority in a way that is highly likely to get more money for your property.

Whatever you decide to do, take the time to really analyze how the condemning authority determined the value of your Washington property. You might be surprised how much value was left off the table.