(14) A report of the "before and after earnings" of owners of business concerns displaced by urban renewal in the Southwest area of Washington, D.C., during 1959 and 1960 (app. F). This report was developed from data provided by the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency and the Internal Revenue Service. The Internal Revenue Service reported its findings to the subcommittee in a manner that protected the identity of each business. (15) Data concerning the extent of the problem of unreimbursed losses by owners of permanent buildings or structures, constructed on railroad rights-of-way or other private property, because of lease provisions providing for removal of the buildings or structures on short notice, or at the expiration of the term (app. G). The Congress has enacted relief legislation in a number of instances, the most recent example being a private law entitled "An Act To Compensate Certain Parties for the Loss of Their Leasehold Interests in Lands Taken by the United States in Connection With the Red Rock Reservoir Project" (Private Law 88-322, approved September 2, 1964). During the period of this study, the staff has visited projects in Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, North Dakota, and Nebraska, in addition to projects in States involved in public hearings, in order to obtain at firsthand the views and suggestions of agency field personnel, affected property owners and tenants, and others. In 1963 and 1964, the subcommittee held seven public hearings in representative urban and rural locations in California, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Testimony concerning Federal programs was received from field personnel of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the U.S. Army Engineers, the Department of the Navy, the Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture, the National Park Service and the Bureau of Reclamation of the Department of Interior, and others. Federal-aid programs were discussed by personnel of the Housing and Home Finance Agency, the Bureau of Public Roads, the Urban Renewal Administration, the Public Housing Administration, and by officials of the State highway departments and local government agencies responsible for urban renewal and public housing programs. And representatives of the Small Business Administration explained the displaced business disaster loan program and other services offered by SBA. The hearings in the field made it possible for many property owners and tenants to testify before the subcommittee or to present their views informally to the members or staff. It also provided an opportunity for the subcommittee to hear personally from the authors of a number of significant recent studies of the economic and social effects of displacement on families, individuals, and business concerns. Printed copies of the hearings have been distributed to interested persons, and the table of contents for each hearing is included in this document (app. I). An added benefit of the hearings was that the subcommittee, in considering the land acquisition practices of a particular agency, had the opportunity to hear from both the agency field personnel and the property owners and tenants affected by the agency's activity, and could make appropriate comparisons. The nature of the program of certain agencies did not lend itself to this kind of review. For example, the current program of the General Services Administration generally involves the acquisition of a relatively few properties in each of many different locations in all parts of the country. In order to obtain some insight into the GSA activity, however, the agency was asked to provide specific data illustrating, by specific case examples, the application of its stated policies and practices for the appraisal of property, the review of appraisals, negotiations, and other matters. These data were obtained for projects selected at random in five different GSA regions, involving a total acquisition of 183 parcels. In addition, GSA provided similar data for the FBI site land acquisition program in the District of Columbia, a more extensive project involving 54 parcels in the central business district. Throughout the study every effort was made to develop as much pertinent and objective information and as wide a sampling of opinion as possible. The splendid cooperation received from Federal, State, and local government agencies, professional associations, institutions, and private organizations and citizens is gratefully acknowledged. The active support of hundreds of individuals in all parts of the country has made this assignment particularly rewarding. V. MAGNITUDE OF REAL PROPERTY ACQUISITION AND HUMAN DISRUPTION UNDER FEDERAL AND FEDERALLY ASSISTED PROGRAMS The magnitude of real property acquisition and the extent of the disruption of families, individuals, business concerns, farm operations, and others by the various Federal and federally assisted programs were thoroughly evaluated. Federal and State agencies were asked to provide general information on the extent of their real property acquisition activities. Based on general information supplied by agencies in response to initial letters, a more detailed inquiry was made. All agencies acquiring more than a few parcels of land per year were asked to complete a set of tables on various physical and economic aspects of past and likely future acquisitions. These tables were designed by the subcommittee staff (1) to obtain answers to specific questions of fact needed to fully evaluate existing land acquisition programs, and (2) to provide a high degree of comparability in reported data. A. AGENCIES PROVIDING DATA Federal agencies were asked to provide physical and economic data. on acquisitions for their own programs and for other Federal agencies. In addition, they were asked to provide, in cooperation with State and local governments, data on acquisitions by State and local governments under various federally assisted programs. The agencies administering programs for which data were provided are as follows: Forest Service, Department of Agriculture. Soil Conservation Service, Department of Agriculture. Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior. General Services Administration. Public Housing Administration, Housing and Home Finance Urban Renewal Administration, Housing and Home Finance Post Office Department. International Boundary and Water oCmmission, Department of Tennessee Valley Authority. Veterans' Administration. Several of the above Federal agencies acquire some or all of the real property required for programs of other agencies. The U.S. Army Engineers, in addition to acquisitions for public works and Army military programs, acquires real property for the Air Force, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Atomic Energy Commission and others. The General Services Administration acquires real property needed for its public buildings program and assists in land acquisition for such other agencies as the Post Office Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Information Agency, the National Bureau of Standards, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and the Pan American Health Organization. In addition to the four Department of the Interior agencies mentioned above, the Department of the Interior reports acquisitions by the Bureau of Mines, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Alaska Railroad, the Bonneville Power Administration, and the Southwestern Power Administration. Information was obtained on acquisitions by other agencies not covered by the reports of the 18 Federal agencies listed above. These included the Architect of the Capitol; the Atomic Energy Commission; the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia; the Agricultural Marketing Service, the Agricultural Research Service, and the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service of the Department of Agriculture; the Weather Bureau of the Department of Commerce; the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare for miscellaneous direct acquisitions; the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Bureau of Prisons of the Department of Justice; the Department of the Treasury; the Federal Communications Commission; the National Capital Planning Commission; the National Science Foundation; and the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation. Some information also was obtained on emerging or expanded programs of other agencies such as the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation of the Department of the Interior, the Office of Education of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and the Housing and Home Finance Agency concerning Federal assistance in future land acquisi tions for recreation, for educational and library facilities, and for urban mass transportation facilities. Data are presented for direct acquisitions by Federal agencies and for acquisitions by State and local governments for various federally assisted programs. Under federally assisted programs are grouped the acquisitions by States and localities for the Federal-aid highway program administered by the Bureau of Public Roads of the Department of Commerce, and for the urban renewal program and the lowrent housing program administered by the Urban Renewal Administration and the Public Housing Administration of the Housing and Home Finance Agency. Also included under federally assisted programs are acquisitions by States and localities for programs administered by the Soil Conservation Service of the Department of Agriculture, by the Federal Aviation Agency, and by the Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior. Physical and economic characteristics of land acquisition are presented here for the immediate past and for the near future. Included in the data for the past are acreages and ownerships acquired; amounts of compensation; displacement of families and individuals, businesses and farms; reestablishment or discontinuance of businesses and farms; appraisal and negotiation procedures used; purchase and condemnation rates; policies regarding financial and other relocation assistance to displacees; and the amounts of moving expense and other relocation payments. Included in data for the future are acreages and ownerships to be acquired, compensation payments expected to be made and displacements of families and individuals, businesses, and farms. To make the data for the various agencies comparable, data on past years and future years were converted to a yearly average for each of the periods. Averages for past years were generally computed from data for a 3-year period, beginning about January 1, 1961, and ending about December 31, 1963 but where not available for 3 years, a shorter period was used. Since data for the future are so important in evaluating effects of land acquisition programs, data was obtained for 8 (through 1972) on urban renewal and Federal-aid highway programs, the two largest programs in terms of both expenditures for acquisition and the displacement of people. Data was obtained for 5 years on most other programs. In view of this, average annual data on future expenditures and displacement can be viewed as a valid minimum for the next 8 years. years Only the highlights of the analyses are presented here. More detailed statistical findings are presented in Appendix C. B. MAGNITUDE OF PAST ACQUISITIONS Acreage of land acquired per year in the recent past was about equal under the direct Federal acquisitions and the federally assisted State and local acquisitions. Federal moneys were instrumental in the acquisition per year of interests in 1.4 million acres of privately owned land, with approximately 768,000 acres of this being in fee. The acreages acquired per year in fee and lesser interests are shown below. Unless specified otherwise, data presented in the tables in this chapter have been rounded, as necessary, after computations were made for Federal and federally assisted programs. Compensation payments per year for real property acquired in the immediate past totaled approximately $1.3 billion, with some $895 million being Federal funds and $395 million being State and local funds. The breakdown of compensation payments by source of funds and by programs is as follows: Although a greater acreage of land is acquired in rural areas than in urban areas, most of the $1.3 billion per year for compensation is for real property acquired in urban areas. Approximately $929 million was spent per year for real property in urban areas, while $362 million was spent for real property in rural areas. The compensation payments by areas and by programs are as follows: Based on total expenditures for compensation, the federally assisted acquisition programs were considerably larger than the direct Federal acquisition programs. Expenditures for the former were approximately $1.163 billion while for the latter they were $128 million. Number of ownerships acquired in whole or in part under direct Federal and federally assisted programs averaged 154,790 per year in the recent past. The partial takings exceeded the number of total 39-949-65 |