| The Washington Post Farmer Fights Losing Land To Wilson Bridge Project By Fredrick Kunkle Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, April 19, 2001; Page B01 |
MONTROSS, Va. -- Lloyd Tayloe Griffith, the local doctor and farmer who threatens to hold
up construction of the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge, isn't home.
In fact, the only creatures in sight are two marsh hawks that rise from a glassy pond, their
ragged wings sweeping over Westmoreland County flatlands that have become the latest
battleground between a private landowner and the government's environmental laws.
Just around a bend on Griffith's farm is a chunk of land that the Virginia Department of
Transportation wants to convert into a tidal marsh to make up or wetlands lost when the
new bridge is constructed. Griffith -- well steeped in the history of a county where George
Washington and Robert E. Lee were born -- wants the government off his back.
"Fighting tyranny is always so expensive," Griffith said in a telephone interview, before
launching into the reasons behind a lawsuit he filed against VDOT to bar the agency from
his property.
"If tyranny marches on, we have only one choice, which is to resist, to protect our rights in
the court system," said Griffith. "This is a debilitating process -- emotionally, physically
and financially."
The dispute, already being fought in Circuit Court in the tiny town of Montross, could delay
construction on the $2.2 billion bridge 85 miles upstream. In the piney flatlands of the
Northern Neck, the standoff has also stirred old resentments. Folks around Griffith's
Potomac shoreline farm see he matter as another case of Northern Virginia throwing its
weight around.
"We came here to get away from the government -- those who live along the water and
such," said Mike Barden, a retired mechanical engineer from Richmond and a Griffith
neighbor. To other farmers and watermen who gather at Bud-Dees Store, a crossroads
for gas, groceries and gossip, "Doc Lloyd" is a hero.
"I can't imagine anyone, were it our need, I can't imagine them walking onto place in
Northern Virginia and taking over their land," Barden said. "I think 'audacity' is the best
word. To come this far away has nothing to do with reality. It's an absurdity."
To compensate for tidal wetlands that will be destroyed by construction of the 12-lane
bridge, highway officials scoured the Potomac River watershed or equal amounts of land
that could be turned into new wetlands. Replacing lost wetlands is required by federal
and state law. Unable to find enough acreage near the bridge, highway officials zeroed in
on Griffith's farm.
The property sprawls across 625 acres of grain fields and idyllic vistas, as if a landscape
painting of swans on black pools, unpatched barns and pebbly shoreline had come to
life. The only sound is bird song.
Initially, Griffith and state officials talked about his voluntarily surrendering 18 acres for a
fair price. But since the state refused to relinquish its right to seize the property under
eminent domain, discussions collapsed. And in August, the state threatened to enter the
property anyway ro conduct tests. So Griffith, whose Albany Farms has been in his family
for generations, went to court. An injunction, issued Sept. 7 by Judge Joseph E. Spruill
Jr., bars state officials from setting foot on the property until further notice.
Griffith, who operates a family practice in a rambling white farmhouse a few miles away,
declined to comment beyond a brief telephone interview. County and records value
Albany Farms at $983,560.
Griffith's lawyer is William Tayloe Murphy, a cousin and former delegate in Virginia's
General Assembly who also happens to live next door on the same Potomac River
peninsula.
Murphy, who sponsored legislation protecting the Chesapeake Bay during his 18 years in
the General Assembly, said Griffith fears that the creation of a wetland, targeted for an
upland area known as Indian Field, could leave the farm vulnerable to erosion or other ill
effects.
Murphy said that neither he nor Griffith objects to making up for wetlands lost to highway
construction, but that the problem should be addressed where the problem exists -- in
Northern Virginia, not 85 miles away.
"You don't compensate for what's lost in Alexandria from an environmental standpoint by
creating wetlands in Westmoreland County," Murphy said.
As a result of the injunction, officials have been unable to complete the necessary studies
and tests to determine whether the proposed site would be feasible for a new wetland.
John Undeland, a spokesman for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project, said the stalemate
so far has not affected the bridge's construction schedule.
"At this point it's not delaying anything, but it could in the future," Undeland said. The
project is in technical violation of the state and federal environmental permits that allow
work to go forward in a wetlands area. To comply with the permits, VDOT was to have
submitted preliminary plans of its designated wetlands mitigation by March 26.
Construction that would have an impact on the wetlands is scheduled to begin this
summer, Undeland said.
In the meantime, highway officials are looking for other suitable spots to create wetlands
and still hoping to work out a deal with Griffith. Publicity about the dispute has led other
landowners to offer their property, and environmental officials are working with the bridge
project to modify the permits, said Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
spokesman Bill Hayden.
On the Northern Neck, whose golden age came and went before the American
Revolution, the grand plantations that tobacco and trade once built have largely been
developed or preserved as museums, and the seafood industry has all but disappeared
with the oysters. But to people like Murphy and his neighbors, the best thing about the
area has been that it's also been largely left alone.
"I think wetlands mitigation has a legitimate place in our efforts to conserve our natural
resources," Murphy said. "But I think it should take place where it's going to benefit the
environment."
© 2001 The Washington Post Company
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