[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4060 Introduced in House (IH)]
106th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4060
To allow property owners to maintain existing structures designed for
human habitation at Lake Sidney Lanier, Georgia.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 21, 2000
Mr. Deal of Georgia introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
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.
<all>