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B-197623 1 (1980-06-04)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadihq0001 and id is 1 raw text is: DECISION STHE COMPTROLLER GENERAL .7 OF THE UNITED STATES WASHINGTON, 0.C. .2054a FILE: B-197623 MATTER DIGEST: CATE: June 4, 1980 OF: Reformation of Land Purchase Contracts -Lower St. Croix National Riverway The National Park Service, in acquiring private land tracts for the Lower St. Croix Wild and Scenic Riverway Project, erroneously took into account the effect of changes in State zoning regulations in ap- praising the value of the tracts. In acquiring pro- perty, the United States is obligated to pay the landowner just compensation. By statute, it must also give the landowner an appraisal of the acquired land which uses proper appraisal techniques and stan- dards, and represents the Government's best estimate of the compensation due the landowner. Since its ap- praisals were based on an erroneous legal premise, the Park Service may reopen negotiations on those parcels of land which have already been acquired by reapprais- ing the tracts in order to pay the owners just com- pensation for their land. This decision responds to a letter from the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Interior which requests our approval of a plan by the National Park Service (Park Service) to reopen some 465 land purchase contracts at the Lower St. Croix Wild and Scenic Riverway. The Park Service has determined that these tracts were acquired on the basis of appraisals which were made on an erroneous legal premise. As a result, the affected landowners were offered approximately 25% less compensation than they were legally entitled to. Interior wishes to reappraise each tract and negotiate the amount of additional pay- ment due to each landowner. It seeks our blanket endorsement of its proposed actions in advance, subject to any post audit of indi- vidual transactions we may wish to perform. We have no objection to the Park Service Plan. In 1968, the Congress passed the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968, 16 U.S.C. § 1271 (1976) et seq. to provide for the protection of selected rivers in their free flowing condition. The Lower St. Croix Riverway was included in the Wild and Scenic Rivers system in 1972 by the Lower St. Croix River Act, Pub. L. No. 92-560, 16 U.S.C. 1274(a)(9). (The Lower St. Croix lies between the States of Minnesota and Wisconsin.) Section 3 of the Act contemplates a major administra- tive role for the States of Minnesota and Wisconsin in preparing, 1I7thH2 i-)- _Z __

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