Strategies to Optimize Real Property Acquisition, Relocation Assistance, and Property Management Practices (2014) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 86-117
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From page 86... ...
86 C H A P T E R 5 Introduction A critical component of the research was to conduct an analysis of key elements of the state project development and delivery process to identify opportunities for a more effective integration of real property-related activities with the rest of the process. The analysis included an evaluation of issues and challenges affecting all project development and delivery process activities with a real property component as well as the identification of strategies for improvement or optimization to address those issues and challenges.
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87 estimating. Legal personnel experienced in real estate should also be involved, especially if large or complex real property acquisitions are expected.
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88 meet the project scope; several funding sources, including local and state matching funds, are identified but one or more sources are uncertain; or there are changes in funding levels)
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89 the project, do not initially allow agency-authorized personnel to enter the property. • The first communication with property owners about a potential project taking place in person with members of the environmental teams, surveyors (or other agencyauthorized officials)
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90 and pays for the remediation. The agency might go to trial to recover the costs, but frequently, the agency ends up absorbing the cost because the likelihood of recovering the cost through litigation is small.
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91 Typically, agencies hand off the project to a design-builder after completing the schematic and identifying the project footprint. A default lead time could be included in the contract (e.g., 18 months to acquire real property after the authorization to acquire property has been issued or after receiving an updated right-of-way map depicting updated property requirements)
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92 Strategies for improvement or optimization include: • See under Definition, Selection, Financing, and Scheduling: – Prepare Cost Estimate and Identify Funding Sources. – Secure Federal, State, and Local Agreements.
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93 integrated with other project development and delivery process activities. • Frequent project changes that result in modifications to the amount of real property that needs to be acquired and, therefore, in the time it takes to complete right-of-way maps.
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94 because of a lack of performance guidelines, the result in these situations is frequently to decide to continue working with the same contractor instead of imposing penalties or hiring new contractors. • Not following proper procedures for conducting appraisals in the case of donations.
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95 • Develop well-written scopes of work with input from both appraisers and reviewers. A related strategy involves communicating with all appraisers who will work on a project (potentially during a project kick-off meeting)
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96 owners who may lack the background or knowledge needed to understand the terms used in the offer letter. Issues and challenges associated with policies and procedures include: • Difficulty identifying the owner of record when several entities own the real property or because of the corporate structure associated with the ownership.
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97 of acquisitions going to condemnation, causing additional delays and higher acquisition costs. • Delays caused by having to wait a certain number of days (e.g., 30 days in Florida)
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98 Strategies for improvement or optimization associated with federal regulations include: • Require (not simply suggest) agencies to provide property owners with enough time to review an offer.
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99 • Eliminate the requirement for a 30-day holding period between reaching a purchase agreement and the actual closing. • Make the use of possession-and-use agreements a standard practice to enable the agency to take possession of a property before closing during the negotiation phase.
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100 result in more acquisitions going to condemnation, causing additional delays and higher acquisition costs. No strategies for improvement or optimization associated with the Uniform Act or with federal regulations were identified.
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101 as birth certificates, permanent residency cards, visas, and passports. A related issue is the liability that state agencies incur if they collect and archive copies of documents that contain personal identifiable information (PII)
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102 Strategies for improvement or optimization associated with federal regulations include: • Develop a standard and tools for determining whether a person is lawfully present in the United States. Although agencies have had success with the self-certification provisions in 49 CFR 24, collecting information from persons who are illegally present in the United States is challenging because those persons tend not to volunteer information easily and because it is difficult to verify the validity of documents such as birth certificates, permanent residency cards, visas, and passports.
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103 Issues and challenges associated with policies and procedures include: • Agents not being familiar with all the available federal or state programs that may be of assistance to displaced persons. Even if the agents are familiar with those programs, they often do not have the technical expertise to assist displaced persons in completing the forms to apply for such programs.
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104 • Implement contracting practices that emphasize both the need for production and the need for thoroughness and high quality, more specifically by recognizing that different types of relocations affect the project schedule differently and that leaving complex relocations to the end is more likely to affect the project's critical path. The payment structure and schedule should reflect these differences.
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105 Strategies for improvement or optimization associated with policies and procedures include: • Develop information packages and training so that agents can become familiar with all the available federal or state programs that may be of assistance to displaced persons, and gain familiarity with all the forms displaced persons might need to apply for such programs. • Implement contracting practices that emphasize both the need for production and the need for thoroughness and high quality, specifically by recognizing that different types of non-residential relocations have different impacts on the project schedule and that completing simple relocations early and leaving complex relocations until later is more likely to affect the project's critical path.
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106 assistance services. The ability of underage children to conduct normal money or banking transactions can be limited in practice, making it more difficult for them to receive relocation payments or make informed decisions to support the relocation process.
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107 includes providing a payment to displaced persons so that they remain at the property until the agency acquires the property. Issue Relocation Payments (Non-Residential)
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108 reviewing, and approving actual moving expenses is cumbersome and time-consuming. Strategies that simplify the criteria, requirements, and documentation associated with this process are likely to have a significant impact on nonresidential relocations.
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109 efficiently; low file storage capacity; insufficient or inefficient database implementations; and inadequate or unfriendly user interfaces. • Inadequate implementation plans that focus on short-term solutions without accounting for future planning and expansions, including how to manage the integration of old paper files into the inventory of real property, how to manage coordination and integration with other internal and external stakeholders, and funding provisions for system maintenance and upgrades to ensure the future sustainability of the system.
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110 drop-down menus (therefore minimizing the need for free-form text boxes) , single-point data entry (to avoid having to enter data more than once)
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111 Utility Conflict Analysis, Permits, Relocation, and Reimbursement Provide Planning and Utility Process Linkages Issues and challenges include: • Not involving right-of-way personnel in planning and programming, or underestimating the importance of involving right-of-way staff in planning and project scoping. • Lack of interest by utility owners in early participation in the project development process.
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112 original estimate by more than a certain amount or percentage. Particularly for projects that run under budget, utility owners find this requirement cumbersome and unnecessary.
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113 – Number of residential displaced persons and number of persons who are ineligible for relocation assistance services (including the reasons they are ineligible)
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114 plans. Local plans may also contain specific components, policies, or objectives on corridor management and corridor preservation, including prioritization of corridors within the community for corridor management and/or corridor preservation programs.
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115 contractor, but the agency lacks a systematic approach to consolidate these different views. As a result, a contractor may be hired based on a positive prior performance in one district even though there may be negative reviews for the same contractor from other districts within the same agency.
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116 Project Development and Delivery Process Activity with a Significant Real Property Component No. of Issues Identified No.
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117 Table 13. (Continued)
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