Northeast Ohio Outdoors

National Park Service signs Purchase Agreement for Flight 93 Memorial

By Lou Yuhasz on August 31st, 2009

Washington, DC – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced that
the federal government has reached agreement with all of the landowners for
all properties needed for the construction of the Flight 93 Memorial in
western Pennsylvania.

“The fields of western Pennsylvania, where the heroes of Flight 93
perished, are hallowed ground for a grateful nation,” said Secretary of the
Interior Ken Salazar.  “Thanks to the collaborative efforts of the
landowners, the Families of Flight 93 and the employees of the National
Park Service, we have reached this important milestone in properly honoring
the courage and sacrifice of the men and women who gave their lives that
day.  The Flight 93 Memorial will soon stand in their honor.”

In June, at the invitation of Senator Specter, Salazar traveled to Somerset
County where they met with the landowners as well as the Families of Flight
93.  Following the meetings, Secretary Salazar delayed earlier Park Service
plans to condemn the properties in favor of continued negotiations with the
landowners. A few weeks later, Salazar traveled back to Somerset County to
meet with the landowners again to help further the negotiations.

As a result of these negotiations, the National Park Service (NPS) has
signed agreements with the 8 landowners whose land was needed to complete
the first phase of the memorial.  According to Acting NPS Director Dan
Wenk, the NPS was successful in reaching negotiated settlements with 7 of 8
property owners.  In January, the eighth property owner Svonavec
Incorporated, came to a mutual agreement with the NPS to allow the courts
to establish fair compensation for the property.  The NPS expects that the
U.S. Department of Justice will file the court documents  for the Svonavec
property within the next two weeks.

“We expect closings on the remaining properties to be complete by
mid-October, which allows construction to begin immediately after our
groundbreaking in November,” Wenk said. “This keeps us on-track to complete
the Memorial by September 11, 2011.”

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