Right of Way Program Oversight & Review
• Oversight and review activities provide expert advice and consultation to agencies participating with the federal government through cost sharing or other joint venture type initiatives and programs, to include sponsor capability assessment, land acquisition activities for water resource-related developments, etc. Services include:
• Scrutiny of performance measures and compliance with federal program guidelines, to include supporting documentation, technical competencies, and accreditation.
• Providing federal oversight and management of inherently governmental functions which require discretion, intimation with public interests, and judicial and policy or decision-making scopes of reference.
Land acquisition services
• Accessing community land records to locate owners, identify site uses, develop scope of agreements, and settle transactions. The process includes the following:
• Ownership research - determine property ownership through the physical inspection and review of public records for purposes of negotiations, surveys and descriptions, title evidence, and property appraisal investigations.
• Preliminary site assessment - investigate and categorize, by former and present uses, a properties' potential for environmentally hazardous conditions and/or materials.
• Negotiations - establish and maintain amicable relationships with property owners and occupants to ensure "good faith" efforts in reaching mutually acceptable terms and conditions in property agreements.
• Condemnations and appeals - last resort venue exercised when negotiations break down, issues are convoluted, or such an impasse develops that settlement, by a disinterested third party, represents the only means for a successful resolution.
• Certification - provide assurances that applicable documentation is available to evidence the completion of project transactions and program requirements.
Real Property Appraisals
• Real Property Appraisals assist in determining marketable value of real property interests through preparation and review of property appraisal reports, analysis of approaches to valuation, and assessment of appraiser competencies. Products and services are:
• Property appraisal reports - provide detailed analysis of property value based upon recognized and supportable approaches to value and property use.
• Property appraisal reviews - provide competency level approval of appraisal technique and methodology used in evaluating property value and economic utility.
Utility/Facility Relocation
• Utility/facility relocations involve identifying the impacts utilities potentially have on construction progress and developing agreements to effectively adjust utilities to ensure success of project schedules and efficient use of program resources. The process requires:
• Identification - through available mapping and utility contact inquiries determine the matrix of servicing utilities and assess potential impacts to planned construction activities.
• Coordination - establish responsible utility owner contacts to ensure the execution of pre-construction activities, leading to contract award and post-construction release.
• Contracts - develop agreements between authorized parties that set responsibility, liability, and accountability for activities associated with the relocation or alteration of utility and facility operations.
Relocation Assistance
• Relocation assistance is a program through which parties displaced by a federal program receive entitlements aimed at offsetting reasonable expenses incurred for moving, housing, and business reestablishment. Realty specialists assist the process through the following activities:
• Displace interviews - conduct meetings with parties adversely affected by project activities to ascertain entitlements under the Uniform Real Property Acquisition and Relocation Assistance Policies Act, Public Law 91-646.
• Property assessments - record property statistical data for purposes of assessing comparability, claim resolution, and determining allowable entitlements.
• Residential moves - provide displaced parties with information and advice in support of issues relating to their self-directed or the commercial move of household effects.
• Business moves - provide displaced businesses or farms with information and advice in support of issues relating to the self-directed or commercial move of its operations.
• Coordinate and approve disbursement of authorized entitlements.