§ 459e-1. — Acquisition of property.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 16USC459e-1]
TITLE 16--CONSERVATION
CHAPTER 1--NATIONAL PARKS, MILITARY PARKS, MONUMENTS, AND SEASHORES
SUBCHAPTER LXIII--NATIONAL SEASHORE RECREATIONAL AREAS
Sec. 459e-1. Acquisition of property
(a) Authority of Secretary; manner and place; concurrence of State
owner; transfer from Federal agency to administrative
jurisdiction of Secretary; liability of United States under
contracts contingent on appropriations
The Secretary is authorized to acquire, and it is the intent of
Congress that he shall acquire as appropriated funds become available
for the purpose or as such acquisition can be accomplished by donation
or with donated funds or by transfer, exchange, or otherwise, the lands,
waters, and other property, and improvements thereon and any interest
therein, within the boundaries of the seashore as established under
section 459e of this title. Any property or interest therein owned by
the State of New York, by Suffolk County, or by any other political
subdivision of said State may be acquired only with the concurrence of
such owner. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any Federal
property located within such area may, with the concurrence of the
agency having custody thereof, be transferred without consideration to
the administrative jurisdiction of the Secretary for use by him in
carrying out the provisions of sections 459e to 459e-9 of this title. In
exercising his authority to acquire property in accordance with the
provisions of this subsection, the Secretary may enter into contracts
requiring the expenditure, when appropriated, of funds authorized by
sections 459e to 459e-9 of this title, but the liability of the United
States under any such contract shall be contingent on the appropriation
of funds sufficient to fulfill the obligations thereby incurred.
(b) Establishment; notice in Federal Register
When the Secretary determines that lands and waters or interests
therein have been acquired by the United States in sufficient quantity
to provide an administrative unit, he shall declare the establishment of
the Fire Island National Seashore by publication of notice in the
Federal Register.
(c) Fair market value
The Secretary shall pay not more than the fair market value, as
determined by him, for any land or interest therein acquired by
purchase.
(d) Exchange of property; cash equalization payments
When acquiring land by exchange the Secretary may accept title to
any nonfederally owned land located within the boundaries of the
national seashore and convey to the grantor any federally owned land
under the jurisdiction of the Secretary. The lands so exchanged shall be
approximately equal in fair market value, but the Secretary may accept
cash from or pay cash to the grantor in order to equalize the values of
the lands exchanged.
(e) Limitation of condemnation power during existence of zoning
ordinance; Davis Park-Smith Point County Park area exception;
beneficial owner's election of alternatives as condition for
acquisition
With one exception the Secretary shall not acquire any privately
owned improved property or interests therein within the boundaries of
the seashore or any property or interests therein within the communities
delineated on the boundary map mentioned in section 459e of this title,
except beach or waters and adjoining land within such communities which
the Secretary determines are needed for public access to the beach,
without the consent of the owners so long as the appropriate local
zoning agency shall have in force and applicable to such property a duly
adopted, valid, zoning ordinance that is satisfactory to the Secretary.
The sole exception to this limitation on the power of the Secretary to
condemn improved property where appropriate zoning ordinances exist
shall be in the approximately eight-mile area from the easterly boundary
of the Brookhaven town park at Davis Park, in the town of Brookhaven, to
the westerly boundary of the Smith Point County Park. In this area only,
when the Secretary deems it advisable for carrying out the purposes of
sections 459e to 459e-9 of this title or to improve the contiguity of
the park land and ease its administration, the Secretary may acquire any
land or improvements therein by condemnation. In every case in which the
Secretary exercises this right of condemnation of improved property the
beneficial owner or owners (not being a corporation) of any improved
property so condemned, provided he, she, or they held the same or a
greater estate in the property on July 1, 1963, may elect as a condition
of such acquisition by the Secretary any one of the following three
alternatives:
(1) that the Secretary shall take the said property in fee
simple absolute and pay the fair market value thereof as of the date
of such taking;
(2) that the owner or owners shall retain a life estate in said
property, measured on the life of the sole owner or on the life of
any one person among multiple owners (notice of the person so
designated to be filed in writing with the Secretary within six
months after the taking) or on the life of the survivor in title of
any estate held on July 1, 1963, as a tenancy by the entirety. The
price in such case shall be diminished by the actuarial fair market
value of the life estate retained, determined on the basis of
standard actuarial methods;
(3) that the owner or owners shall retain an estate for twenty-
five years. The price in this case shall likewise be diminished by
the value of the estate retained.
(f) ``Improved property'' defined
The term ``improved property'' as used in sections 459e to 459e-9 of
this title shall mean any building, the construction of which was begun
before July 1, 1963, and such amount of land, not in excess of two acres
in the case of a residence or ten acres in the case of a commercial or
industrial use, on which the building is situated as the Secretary
considers reasonably necessary to the use of the building: Provided,
That the Secretary may exclude from improved properties any beach or
waters, together with so much of the land adjoining such beach or waters
as he deems necessary for public access thereto.
(g) Undeveloped tracts and property; suspension of condemnation
authority; natural state
The authority of the Secretary to condemn undeveloped tracts within
the Dune District as depicted on map entitled ``Fire Island National
Seashore'' numbered OGP-0004 dated May, 1978, is suspended so long as
the owner or owners of the undeveloped property therein maintain the
property in its natural state. Undeveloped property within the Dune
District that is acquired by the Secretary shall remain in its natural
state.
(h) Sale of property acquired by condemnation; excepted properties;
proceeds available for acquisition of property
(1)(A) The Secretary shall sell any property described in
subparagraph (B) of this paragraph acquired by condemnation under
sections 459e to 459e-9 of this title to the highest bidder; except
that--
(i) no property shall be sold at less than its fair market
value; and
(ii) no property shall be sold unless it is sold subject to
covenants or other restrictions that will ensure that the use of
such property conforms--
(I) to the standards specified in regulations issued under
section 459e-2(a) of this title which are in effect at the time
of such sale, and
(II) to any approved zoning ordinance or amendment thereof
to which such property is subject.
(B) The property referred to in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph
is any property within the boundaries of the national seashore as
delineated on the map mentioned in section 459e of this title except--
(i) property within the Dune district referred to in subsection
(g) of this section;
(ii) beach or waters and adjoining land within the exempt
communities referred to in the first sentence of subsection (e) of
this section; and
(iii) property within the eight-mile area described in the
second sentence of subsection (e) of this section; and
(iv) any property acquired prior to October 1, 1982, that the
Secretary determines should be retained to further the purpose of
sections 459e to 459e-9 of this title.
(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all moneys received
from sales under paragraph (1) of this subsection may be retained and
shall be available to the Secretary, without further appropriation, only
for purposes of acquiring property under sections 459e to 459e-9 of this
title.
(i) Injunctive relief; termination
(1) Upon or after the commencement of any action for condemnation
with respect to any property under sections 459e to 459e-9 of this
title, the Secretary, through the Attorney General of the United States,
may apply to the United States District Court for the Eastern District
of New York for a temporary restraining order or injunction to prevent
any use of, or construction upon, such property that--
(A) fails, or would result in a failure of such property, to
conform to the standards specified in regulations issued under
section 459e-2(a) of this title in effect at the time such use or
construction began; or
(B) in the case of undeveloped tracts in the Dune district
referred to in subsection (g) of this section, would result in such
undeveloped property not being maintained in its natural state.
(2) Any temporary restraining order or injunction issued pursuant to
such an application shall terminate in accordance with the provisions of
section 459e-2(g) of this title.
(Pub. L. 88-587, Sec. 2, Sept. 11, 1964, 78 Stat. 929; Pub. L. 95-625,
title III, Sec. 322(b), Nov. 10, 1978, 92 Stat. 3489; Pub. L. 98-482,
Sec. 2, Oct. 17, 1984, 98 Stat. 2255.)
Amendments
1984--Subsecs. (h), (i). Pub. L. 98-482 added subsecs. (h) and (i).
1978--Subsec. (g). Pub. L. 95-625 added subsec. (g).
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in sections 459e-2, 459e-5, 459e-6,
459e-7, 459e-9 of this title.
