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HR 4060 IH

To allow property owners to maintain existing structures designed for human habitation at Lake Sidney Lanier, Georgia.

March 21, 2000

Mr. DEAL of Georgia introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

To allow property owners to maintain existing structures designed for human habitation at Lake Sidney Lanier, Georgia.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Lake Sidney Lanier Home Preservation Act'.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act, the following definitions apply:

(1) LAKE- The term `Lake' means the Lake Sidney Lanier, Georgia, project of the United States Army Corps of Engineers authorized by the Act of July 24, 1946 (60 Stat. 634).

(2) FEE LANDS- The term `fee lands' means the lands acquired in fee title by the United States for the Lake.

(3) FLOWAGE EASEMENT- The term `flowage easement' means the interest in land which the United States acquired that provides the right to flood to the elevation 1,085 feet above mean sea level, among other rights, on lands surrounding the lake.

(4) EASEMENT PROHIBITION- The term `easement prohibition' means the rights acquired by the United States in the flowage easements to prohibit structures for human habitation.

(5) ELIGIBLE PROPERTY OWNER- The term `eligible property owner' means a person that owns a structure for human habitation that was constructed prior to January 1, 2000, and is located upon fee lands or in violation of the flowage easement.

(6) SECRETARY- The term `Secretary' means the Secretary of the Army.

SEC. 3. HUMAN HABITATION PROHIBITION.

(a) IN GENERAL- Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish, and provide public notice of, a program to convey the right to maintain existing structures for human habitation on fee lands or to release the easement prohibition for existing structures for human habitation from the flowage easements to eligible property owners.

(b) REGULATION- To carry out subsection (a), the Secretary shall issue regulations that--

(1) require the Corps of Engineers to suspend any activities to require eligible property owners to remove structures for human habitation encroaching on fee lands or flowage easements;

(2) provide that a person who owns a structure for human habitation on land adjacent to the Lake shall have a period of 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act to request that the Corps of Engineers resurvey the property of the person to determine if the person is an eligible property owner under this Act and to pay the costs of the resurvey to the Secretary for deposit in the Corps of Engineers project account in accordance with section 2695 of title 10, United States Code.

(3) provide that when a determination is made, either through private survey or through the Government's boundary line maintenance surveys, that a structure for human habitation is situated upon the fee lands or flowage easements, the Corps of Engineers shall notify immediately the property owner by certified mail, and the property owner shall have a period of 90 days from receipt of the notice in which to establish that the structure was constructed prior to January 1, 2000, and, therefore, that the property owner is an eligible property owner under this Act;

(4) provide that any private survey is subject to review and approval by the Corps of Engineers to ensure that it conforms to the Government's boundary line;

(5) require the Corps of Engineers to offer to an eligible property owner either a conveyance or release that--

(A) on fee lands, conveys by quitclaim deed the minimum land required to maintain the human habitation structure, reserving the right to flood to the elevation 1,085 feet above mean sea level, if applicable;

(B) in flowage easements, releases by quitclaim deed the prohibition of structures for human habitation;

(C) provides that the existing structure cannot be extended further onto fee lands or into the flowage easement nor additional structures for human habitation placed in either fee lands or flowage easement; and

(D) provides that the United States shall not be liable or responsible for damage to property or injury to persons caused by operation of the Lake and no claim to compensation shall accrue from the exercise of the flowage easement rights and that such waiver of any and all claims against the United States shall be a covenant running with the land and is fully binding upon heirs, successors, assigns, and purchasers of the property so released; and

(6) provide that the eligible property owner either shall agree to an offer under paragraph (5) within 90 days after the offer is made by the Corps of Engineers or shall comply with the real property rights of the United States and remove the structure for human habitation and any other unauthorized real or personal property.

(c) OPTION TO PURCHASE INSURANCE- Nothing in this Act precludes a property owner from purchasing flood insurance to which he or she may be eligible.

(d) PRIOR ENCROACHMENT RESOLUTIONS- Nothing in this Act shall affect previously resolved encroachments at the Lake, whether through sale, exchange, voluntary removal, or alteration or removal through litigation.

(e) PRIOR REAL PROPERTY RIGHTS- Nothing in this Act shall take away, diminish, or eliminate any other real property rights acquired by the United States for the Lake or shall affect the ability of the United States to require the removal of any and all encroachments that are constructed or placed on United States real property or flowage easements at the Lake after December 31, 1999.

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