644.82—Prerequisites to acquisition.
(a) Authority to begin acquisition.
Action to acquire a tract of land will not be initiated until the Real Estate Design Memorandum (for all projects except military) or Real Estate Planning Report (for Army, other than Civil Works, and Air Force projects) is approved and specific authorization of the Chief of Engineers, or the appropriate Air Force Regional Civil Engineer (AFRCE), to proceed with the acquisition of the project is received by the Division and District Engineer and funds have been made available. Upon such approval, the Division or District Engineer is authorized to initiate action for the acquisition of the estate approved for the particular project in accordance with the procedures hereinafter set forth.
(b) Tract description.
Authority to initiate engineering planning of a project will state the mapping procedures provided for in Chapter 3, ER 405-1-12. It is necessary that land requirements be determined, that the various tracts be identified by ownership, and that accurate tract descriptions be developed. Tract ownership data may be developed by Division or District personnel from the local land records or procured by contract from a qualified local Government official, abstractor or title company representative.
(c) Title evidence.
With approval to proceed with acquisition, title evidence contracts can be initiated. The procedures for obtaining title evidence are covered in §§ 644.61 through 644.72. Preliminary title evidence to confirm ownership and status of the title is prerequisite to negotiating for acquisition of the land or interests therein.
(d) Appraisals.
Concurrently with the procurement of title evidence, the appraisal of the land should begin. The appraisal, when approved, forms the basis for the determination of fair market value which will not be less than the approved appraised value. The appraisal procedures are covered in subpart B. Normally, one appraisal per tract (ownership) will be obtained; however, in unusual cases such as those which involve novel, unique or controversial appraisal concepts, there is no objection to obtaining more than one appraisal covering the same tract if considered advisable by the Division or District Engineer. When fee tracts are acquired by eminent domain procedures, where the value of the property is between $50,000 and $100,000, only one appraisal need be provided to the Department of Justice so long as it is a contract appraisal; two appraisals will be provided for values exceeding $100,000. Easement tracts acquired by eminent domain procedures, in excess of $50,000, will require two appraisals. At least one of the two appraisals must be made by a contract appraiser. Generally, in these cases, the second appraisal is procured only after negotiations indicate that agreement on price cannot be reached and that acquisition by condemnation will be required. The second appraisal will be procured in order that the Corps can take advantage of any negotiating flexibility that the second appraisal may afford in order to preclude court action. It is also necessary that the appraisals be relatively current in point of time (not to exceed six months) since dependent upon the real estate activity and degree of stability of the local economy, significant changes may take place in relatively short periods of time.
(e) Environmental considerations.
Paragraph D3, Attachment 1 to Enclosure 1, DOD Directive 6050.1, dated March 19, 1974, subject: “Environmental Considerations in DOD Actions,” requires close environmental scrutiny of real estate acquisitions, disposals and outgrants to determine if said actions constitute a “Major Action Significantly Affecting the Quality of the Human Environment (MASAQHE).” If the action is determined to be a MASAQHE, then an environmental impact statement is required. Paragraph D3 is quoted here for ready reference:
D. Certain types of actions require close environmental scrutiny because of the possibility that they may either affect the quality of the environment or create environmental controversy. It may be desirable in such cases to have a complete presentation of the environmental aspects of the proposed action available for any interested party. For these reasons, consideration shall be given to documenting the environmental effect of the following types of actions in writing: (The written environmental assessment need not be elaborate for actions in which it is readily determinable that the impact would not be significant; however, negative declarations must be supported by written environmental assessments which generally meet the EIS format requirements.)
3. Real estate acquisition, disposal and outgrants.