SUSAN BRADY and her attorney continue to negotiate with the state Department of Transportation over the value of her restaurant building at Dollars Corner. O’Brady’s restaurant was closed last year at the direction of state officials. Brady remains unemployed and without a new location for the business.
To say that Susie Brady is bitter is putting it mildly. Her Dollars Corner Restaurant, O’Brady’s, is closed at the direction of state officials and she has yet to settle on compensation.
The restaurant that her father James operated for 24 years, and that Susie Brady purchased from him in 1998, was closed in September 2012 at the direction of the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) as part of right-of-way acquisition for the widening of State Route 502.
In 2010, the state offered Brady $291,300 for the portion of her property needed for road widening. That would have left Brady with the restaurant building itself but no access from either SR-502, which connects Battle Ground with I-5, or NE 72nd Avenue. The state would have purchased that “remainder” property for another $11,100.
Brady, 45, did not respond to that offer because, she said, “I felt it was so low that it was not even respondable – so far off my understanding of the value of the property.”
In 2011, Brady began working on a plan that would have allowed the restaurant to remain open at its current location with right-in, right-out access from both roads. State officials were initially supportive of this idea and even paid $11,350 for engineering and a site plan that would have provided Brady with access and parking.
Under the plan, land on SR-502 west of the restaurant, then owned by Dolly Fambro, would have provided access to O’Brady’s plus parking, and land on NE 72nd Avenue south of O’Brady’s would have provided additional ingress and egress.
That plan was considered through the spring and summer of 2011. But in October 2011, state officials turned it down, stating that the total cost for land acquisition and redevelopment was “significantly higher” than simply buying land needed for road widening.
That plan was recently reconsidered but state officials dropped it again in February 2013, citing stream buffer issues.
Chris Tams, project engineer for WSDOT, said the project plan now calls for straightening Mill Creek at Dollars Corner and moving the waterway northward and closer to Brady’s property, leaving insufficient room for an access road.
“We thought we would be OK (access off 72nd Avenue) in 2011,” said Tams. “What we thought we would do with the stream in 2011 is not what we are going to do today. Straight is a better solution.”
Tams said the latest plan for stream realignment was worked out in conjunction with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. After the realignment is completed, the stream will be 25 feet from Brady’s property line, he said.
Under its powers of eminent domain, the state took “possession and use” of the portion of Brady’s property needed for road widening in late 2012, the restaurant was closed on Sept. 15, 2012, and the state paid their initial offer in December 2012.
As it now stands, the two parties could negotiate a settlement, or the matter could go to court, where a jury would decide fair compensation. Brady says her father, now 85, encourages that a court and jury settle the matter.
Brady is uncertain if going to court is a viable option. After meeting with several attorneys, she hired attorney Jill Gelineau of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt in Portland. All the attorneys she talked to wanted a third of any settlement, said Brady. Going to court would involve extra expenses for both herself and for her attorney, said Brady, and those expenses might not be recovered.
Brady could represent herself in court, but doesn’t want to.
“Going to court is scary, honestly,” said Brady. “The thought of defending myself against the state in court is scary.”
At least three appraisals have been done on the restaurant property. One appraisal, conducted by an appraiser for attorney Gelineau, concluded that Brady’s entire property, including the building, was worth $412,000. State officials developed an “administrative appraisal” which gave a total value of $302,400. And the state more recently developed a “litigation appraisal” which put the value at $440,000.
Brady said she has not been able to obtain a copy of the “litigation appraisal” and recently submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to get it.
The state’s appraisals do not include the value of Brady’s fixtures and equipment, said Hal Wolfe, real estate services manager for WSDOT in Southwest Washington.
Brady’s fixtures and equipment are in storage, with storage fees being paid by the state for up to one year. She had looked for a new business location, but suspended that effort pending settlement with the state.
As a further irritation, Brady said state officials drilled a monitoring well on her property without her permission before they took possession of her land. She seeks compensation for a survey she had done to verify the intrusion and damages for trespass.
Tams acknowledged that the well was drilled on Brady’s property, but said it was drilled by a contractor for the owners of a gasoline station across the road, not by the state.
In January 2013, the state Attorney General offered Brady $440,000 for her entire property, stating also that “we recognize that post-possession interest would be payable on the additional just compensation and we are open to discussing costs and attorney fees.” That offer amounts to about $67.70 per square foot for the 6,381 square feet of land needed for widening ($432,000), plus about $1 per square foot for the remaining 8,007 square feet ($8,000).
Wolfe affirmed that the state’s latest offer does not include the value of Brady’s fixtures and equipment. Brady said that if she is not able to stay in her Dollars Corner location, she’d like the state to buy her equipment and she would outfit a new restaurant space with new equipment.
Abbi Russell, communications manager for WSDOT in Vancouver, said the state rarely buys equipment.
Brady estimates her attorney fees and appraisal costs at more than $81,000. And she said she has spent another $6,500 on building maintenance, electricity and security since the state took possession of her property.
None of the negotiations involves the value of O’Brady’s business activity – only the land.
“We acquire real estate, and we move businesses,” stated Wolfe, noting that less than 5 percent of disputed property acquisitions actually go to court.
In recent years, Brady has earned a living selling her popular brand of sandwiches, soft drinks and ice cream. The business had an annual gross income of about $350,000 while employing 10 people at one of the busiest intersections in North Clark County. At last count, about 22,800 cars pass through the intersection on an average day.
State officials will pay to move the restaurant to a new location and they suggested properties to which the business could be relocated. Brady turned all of them down as being “far more expensive than what they were paying me.”
“They suggested a house in Salmon Creek, which was covered with berry vines, an empty lot across from Albertson’s (in Battle Ground), a house across from Fred Meyer, and a trailer in Hazel Dell. Most (of the properties) they sent were $600,000 before renovation,” said Brady, noting that the suggested properties would cost her more than twice the amount the state was willing to pay her for her property.
“I’ve said all along that I should have a ‘like and similar’ property and building,” said Brady.
Tams said that, so far, WSDOT has acquired 128 of 180 parcels needed for the project, and could have 150 in hand by summer, when work will focus on moving utilities, removing trees, brush and improvements from the right-of-way, and constructing of a portion of the new roadway.
At the O’Brady’s site, work this summer will include removal of the septic system.
Tams said work will begin in 2014 to build the rest of the improved road, which will be four lanes with a median barrier from Battle Ground to Duluth, plus 10-foot shoulders for pedestrians and bicycles. The project has a price tag of $87.8 million.
Brady cites various state manuals in support of her claims for higher compensation.
She quoted a state Real Estate Acquisition Guide that described an appraisal as the “minimum amount that must be offered” to a property owner. “This may not necessarily constitute just compensation as there are situations where property is so unique in nature” that the appraisal does not estimate fair market value.
Brady also cited a state administrative code on relocation of businesses.
“When an adequate supply of replacement business sites is not expected to be available, the impacts of displacing the businesses should be considered and addressed,” reads the code.
That code also states that the state should “assist any person displaced from a business or farm operation to obtain and become established in a suitable replacement location.”
Brady has been out of business and out of work for more than seven months with no end in sight.
“We are no further along than we were seven years ago,” said Brady, referring to the first letter she received from state officials in 2006. “In retrospect, I shouldn’t have closed. They don’t support businesses. I’ve lost my business and I’ve incurred $100,000 in debt. They don’t care how I’m living.”
Marvin Case may be reached at (360) 687-4122 and marvincase@msn.com.
