SOMERSET — The U.S. Secretary of the Interior moved Friday to tamp down concerns of Flight 93 landowners, pledging renewed negotiations – but not taking eminent domain off the table.
Secretary Ken Salazar, after meeting with owners of property needed for the Flight 93 National Memorial, said he had “high hopes” in new talks to buy the lands.
He named the acquisitions chief of the National Parks Services as a go-between with residents to speed the process.
At the same time, both he and U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter said the government remains committed to a quickly closing timetable that calls for soliciting construction bids in July and August. Later, during his first visit to the temporary memorial, Salazar said eminent domain remains a “backstop” to be used if all else fails.
“Many of these landowners feel aggrieved,” Salazar said at a press conference after meeting in private with landowners at Somerset Trust Co. “None of these things are easy.”
The secretary said the property owners also became victims of 9/11, and he pledged that their contributions to the national memorial will be visually recognized.
“There has to be in this memorial a celebration and a recognition of them,” he said, though what form that will take remains up in the air. “We will see to it that that recognition is remarkable and not hidden.”
Christine and Dale Williams of Ruffs Dale are two of the landowners who met with Salazar and Specter. The Williamses have six acres and a summer home in Shanksville.
Speaking with reporters afterward, Christine Williams broke down.
“This was going to be a property we retired to,” she said, wiping tears from her cheek.
She was cautious about reaching an amicable property deal.
“We’ll see. After the last eight years, we will be foolish to go into this without any reservations,” Williams said. “It will move a lot faster with higher authorities involved.”
Pat Svonavec, whose family owns 275 acres at the site, told The Associated Press he does not believe the timetable allows for true negotiations.
“I’m going to give them, certainly, the benefit of the doubt,” Svonavec was quoted. “I want to be a realist. I don’t think there’s enough time.”
In all, the government still needs to obtain about 500 acres of the 1,500-acre national park site. It said last month it would take the remaining lands by eminent domain.
Landowners cried foul and two local members of the Flight 93 Federal Advisory Commission resigned over the planned acreage takings.
Clearly, Salazar was trying to kick-start talks while keeping the process upbeat.
“The National Park Service does not want to be in a situation where we are not good neighbors,” he said.
The goal is to have the
$60 million Flight 93 National Memorial up and running by the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, on Sept. 11, 2011.
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