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SENATE
BILL 5863
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Passed
Legislature - 2001 Regular Session
State of Washington 57th
Legislature 2001 Regular Session
By
Read first time 02/06/2001.
Referred to Committee on Natural Resources, Parks & Shorelines.
Allowing
the department of natural resources to exchange certain bedlands to obtain
clear title to certain property on the Cowlitz river.
AN
ACT Relating to an exchange of bedlands and the resolution of boundary disputes
in and near the Cowlitz river near the confluence of the Columbia river in
Longview, Washington; adding a new section to chapter 79.08 RCW; and creating a
new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 1. (1)
The legislature finds that in the 1920s the Cowlitz river near the confluence
of the Columbia river in Longview, Washington was diverted from its original
course by dredging and construction of a dike. As a result, a portion of the
original bed of the Cowlitz river became a nonnavigable body of shallow water.
Another portion of the original bed of the Cowlitz river became part of a dike
and is indistinguishable from existing islands. The main channel of the
Cowlitz river was diverted over uplands to the south of the original bed and
has continued as a navigable channel.
(2)
The legislature finds that continued ownership of the nonnavigable portion of
the original bed of the Cowlitz river near the confluence of the Columbia river
no longer serves the state's interest in navigation. Ownership of the
existing navigable bed of the Cowlitz river would better serve the state's
interest in navigation. It is also in the state's interest to resolve any
disputes that have arisen because state-owned land is now indistinguishable
from privately owned land within the dike.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 2. A
new section is added to chapter 79.08 RCW to read as follows:
(1)
The department of natural resources is authorized to exchange bedlands
abandoned through rechanneling of the Cowlitz river near the confluence of the
Columbia river so that the state obtains clear title to the Cowlitz river as it
now exists or where it may exist in the future through the processes of erosion
and accretion.
(2)
The department of natural resources is also authorized to exchange bedlands and
enter into boundary line agreements to resolve any disputes that may arise over
the location of state-owned lands now comprising the dike that was created in
the 1920s.
(3)
For purposes of this act, "Cowlitz river near the confluence of the
Columbia river" means those tidelands and bedlands of the Cowlitz river
fronting and abutting sections 10, 11, and 14, township 7 north, range 2 west,
Willamette Meridian and fronting and abutting the Huntington Donation Land
Claim No. 47 and the Blakeny Donation Land Claim No. 43, township 7 north,
range 2 west, Willamette Meridian.
(4)
Nothing in this act shall be deemed to convey to the department of natural
resources the power of eminent domain.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. If
any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is
held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to
other persons or circumstances is not affected.
