| What
is “The Uniform Act” and why does it
matter to me?
The “Uniform Act”, as it is commonly called in our industry, is
short for “The Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition
Policies Act of 1970.”
The Uniform Act and its amendments are
a lengthy and complex set of regulations that govern
all acquisitions of real estate involving federal funds
and the relocation of people displaced by similar governmental
acquisitions. Recognizing that the taking of private
land for a public use is a sensitive issue, the United
States Congress created this act to ensure that property
owners are treated fairly during such transactions
and related relocations.
This act does not matter to you if you are a private
developer and your project doesn’t involve a
governmental entity. It may not matter to you if you
work for a governmental entity handling a project that
uses no federal funds and you never want any thing
related to this project to be qualified to accept federal
funding.
It is very important to you if your governmental or
quasi-governmental project involves federal funding.
Then you are required to handle all actions involving
real estate and relocation of people or businesses
according to its regulations, and you should remember
that this starts at the beginning of the process—not
just when you are ready to write a contract to buy
the land.
Therefore it is important that if you are not staffed
with agents who are well-versed in The Uniform Act,
you use Spitzer & Associates to handle the acquisitions
and/or relocation assistance or to provide expert training,
project management, and/or oversight to ensure that
your existing staff handles it correctly. Your project
funding depends upon it; as does funding associated
with future phases or expansions.
Also let us point out that a lot of state funds are
made up in part with funds they have received from
the federal government. If there are any federal funds
involved, you must follow the requirements of The Uniform
Act or potentially jeopardize your project funding.
What is a “local
public agency”?
Local public agency
(“LPA”) is a term that usually means a
city or county that is partnering with a state department
of transportation to complete an improvement project.
It might also be a transportation corporation or other
entity created to handle such issues. Such LPA’s
may not have a large real estate staff and can benefit
from hiring Spitzer & Associates when they need
to complete a project.
What if my project
requires an expertise that Spitzer & Associates
cannot provide?
That’s not unusual. We handle that smoothly
all the time. For example, we do not currently employ
appraisers at Spitzer & Associates, but we have
a number of qualified appraisal experts that we include
as a part of our team when a project requires appraisal
work or expertise. The client approves them; we manage
them. The process works seamlessly. Similarly there
are others with expertise that may be necessary occasionally
upon which we rely when needed. These are leading experts,
who are experienced in this type of work.
Sometimes because of the location of a project or
staffing demands, we team with other quality right
of way consultants to provide comprehensive service
for a client. Your needs will be met within your requirements.
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