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Show Special use permits are necessary when public lands offer the only suitable location for certain structures. At left is a gas compressor station. The tower at right is a microwave relay station. limitations and limitations on the number of tracts, combine to make it difficult to dispose of public lands to meet urban development needs. In addition, the practice of disposal of national forest land by exchange has made disposal of these lands for urban uses cumbersome and the target of criticism. Although the Public Land Sale Act of 1964 18 is an improvement over previous laws, it is only temporary legislation and is also inadequate in several other respects, one of which is that it is not applicable to the national forests. With respect to national forest land that has been needed for expansion of existing communities has been provided almost entirely through exchange under authority of the General Exchange Act of 1922.19 Some 32,000 acres were exchanged in the 1958-67 period for urban purposes. This procedure first requires the exchange proponent to acquire other land that is wanted by the Forest Service and is of equal or greater value than the federally owned land for which it is to be exchanged. Often the tract or tracts of land wanted by the Forest Service must be purchased by the proponent at considerable cost and effort. The Commission recommends that legislation be enacted providing authority for direct sale of national forest land for urban use other than as town-sites and that it be the preferred method of transferring land for this purpose. The Forest Service should always have discretion to withhold from sale 18 n. 15, supra. 19 16 U.S.C. §485 (1964). 228 lands that must be kept in Federal ownership in order to protect other values. Consideration should be given to proposals that the Forest Service be allowed to use sale proceeds to acquire suitable replacement land. Experience has established that the acreages required for urban expansion are relatively small but vital to the typical community in public land areas. State and local governments should have a flexible method available under which they can acquire and resell land for urban expansion. To make this possible, Congress should authorize Federal agencies to sell public land classified for urban uses to qualified local governmental agencies under a definite term contract of sale permitting payment to the Federal Government to be delayed until the lands have been transferred to private ownership. Such a contract of sale could be limited to a definite period, after which the state or local government could be given the option of paying the agreed upon price or returning the land to the Federal Government. However, no such contract should be authorized unless there is an adequate development plan in existence. As in the case of proposed new cities, the land management agencies should obtain advice from Federal, State, and private sources as to the need for the land. We believe such a measure would facilitate planning and more orderly urban growth, get public lands needed for development onto the tax rolls more quickly, return a fair value to the U.S. Treasury, and reduce the administrative cost of disposal to the Federal Government. |