September 29, 2005: NORTON RAISES REVENUE POTENTIAL OF D.C. LAND TRANSFER BILL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 29, 2005

NORTON RAISES REVENUE POTENTIAL OF D.C. LAND TRANSFER BILL PASSED IN COMMITTEE TODAY

Washington, D.C. – The Government Reform Committee today passed the D.C. Real Property Act sponsored by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA). The major sites transferred through a series of swaps of District land for Federal land are Poplar Point and the Reservation 13, the site where DC General is now located. “I am very pleased that our committee has taken the first big step toward final passage of a land transfer bill which holds great potential to produce revenue for our city,” Norton said. Even before passage, the Congresswoman had begun to work with other committees of jurisdiction in the House and the Senate for final passage in the Congress. In her statement at the mark-up today, she said that she appreciated the possibilities inherent in the bill because it “follows the example of the Southeast Federal Center Public-Private Development Act of 2000 authorizing the development of 57 prime acres of federal land, now transforming a major section of Southeast Washington.” Norton thanked Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Josh Bolton, with whom she and Mayor Anthony Williams have had discussions for several years about the District’s federally imposed structural deficit and about H.R. 1586, the D.C. Fair Federal Compensation Act, sponsored by Norton and Davis, to eliminate this deficit. Norton said that today’s bill appeared to be Bolton’s attempt to partially respond to D.C.’s structural imbalance through the transfer of land. Earlier this year, Norton introduced the Fair Federal Compensation Act, to accomplish the same purpose, but at mark-up said she supported the Administration version because “it meets the bottom line of my bill as well—to get the land transferred to the District for the greater benefit of the federal government and the city.” The full text of Norton’s statement follows.

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The Federal and District of Columbia Real Property Act of 2005 swaps land controlled by the federal government for land controlled by the D.C. government. The District has had full and unimpeded use of most of this land for 150 years or more, most of the city’s existence. Of the two large sites, Poplar Point is parkland, 70% of which must be maintained perpetually for park purposes and wetlands. The largest parcel has long been encumbered with District of Columbia agencies, among them, D.C. General Hospital, the D.C. Jail, the Addiction Prevention and Recovery Administration DetoxificationCenter, and D.C. Court Service and Offender Supervision Agency. However in recent years the D.C. government has closed the Hospital, leaving most of this large valuable property without productive use for either the city or the federal government.

Our bill not only allows beneficial use of land on the Anacostia Waterfront, where the city already is undertaking major development on its own land. The bill relieves the federal government of the cost of maintenance of parcels it will never use. Perhaps the most important benefit to the federal government is the transfer to government by the District of certain buildings owned by the District on the West Campus of St. Elizabeth’s campus, a large site otherwise federally owned, fully clearing a major property needed for federal agencies, where the new Coast Guard headquarters is already scheduled to be constructed.

The bill Chairman Davis and I are sponsoring today follows the example of the Southeast Federal Center Public-Private Development Act of 2000 authorizing the development of 57 prime acres of federal land now transforming a major section of Southeast Washington that will yield revenue producing changes that benefit both the federal government and the District of Columbia. However, the federal property in today’s bill was not owned by the District, making economic development of the land impossible. The transfer of the property in this bill is consistent with the Federal Property Act and other statutes and federal policy concerning federal land exchanges.

I want to thank OMB Director Josh Bolton, with whom Mayor Williams and I have had discussions over the years, even before he became Director, about the District’s federally imposed structural deficit and about H.R. 1586, the DC Fair Federal Compensation Act, sponsored by Chairman Davis and me. This bill is drawn from an Administration initiative that is clearly Mr. Bolton’s attempt to respond, at least partially, to the District’s structural imbalance through the transfer of land. Earlier this year, I introduced H.R. 1586, the Fair Federal Compensation Act, to accomplish this purpose. My bill would reduce D.C.’s structural deficit by an amount equal to the appraised value of the major parcels in this bill, but adds to the government’s debt the cost of the cleanup, which unfortunately this bill transfers to the District. I support the administration version before us because it meets the bottom line of my bill as well--to get the land transferred to the District for the greater benefit of the federal government and the city. I also agree with your statement earlier this year Mr. Chairman, that this initiative by the administration is a “good start” as a piece of the structural deficit “puzzle” as you termed it. The obligation to complete the puzzle by eliminating the full federally imposed structural deficit remains.