Displacement Plan for CDBG and HOME

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0916 Federal Register / Vol. 54, No, 40 / Thursday, March 2 program. For the bulk of the acquisition on Federal, or federally assisted programs. projects, or activities, the proposed definition is sufficient. We have added a definition of Notice of intent to acquire or notice of eligibility for relocation assistance, at 24.2(o). which should help to clarify the meaning of initiation of negotiations and its relationship to entitlements under the Uniform Act. The two controlling points in this set of oircumstances are the action or actions of the agency and the action of the displaced person. There must be a dear, legitimate and reasonable causal connection between the two. For example, a tenant mating on the basis of having learned his landlord bad applied for a rehabilitation loan would not establish the tenant's eligibility for benefits. Section .N.2(11 Lead agency. The definition of lead agency" was inserted at this point in the definitions, and the following preamble discussion refers to the new section numbers for the definition in question. Section 2f nj Nonprofit organization. The definition was revised to recognize that a non fitorganisation must in to having tax-exempt under the Internal Revenue Code. be appropriately incorporated under the laws of a State u anon -profit organization Section of Notice contest to acquire or notice of eligibility for relocation assistance. This added definition was discussed under 124.2(k). The to early estabf lish displaced person's eligibility for relocation benefits. However, it should be understood that. the absence of such a notice does not deprive the person of eligibility for relocation benefits. The Federal funding agency. within its own program or project requirements, should develop a procedure for the timely delivery of such notices to persons to be displaced including those affected by activities undertaken prior to the commitment of Federal financial assistance to the activity. Section 24.2(p) Programs or protects. In response to comments from twe Federal agencies the definition of "project" has been revised, Because of the multiplicity of Federal and federally assisted programa and projects, a single definition must necessarily be extremely general. Each Federal agency will continue to have responsibility for identifying Its programs and projects that ere covered by the Uniform Act. threshold was solicited and the responses ranged from one recommending a change to a dollar volume criterion; two recommending 20 employees; three recommending 50 employees; four recommending 100 employees; one recommending 250; one respondent recommended the threshold be eliminated and the payment be available to any and all businesses; two indicated concern, but had no threshold number, and ten indicated agreement with the 500 employee threshold. a i;'HWA s use of a 500 employee threshold for a small business is in accordance with the Small Busfneas Administration's current definition of small businesses. Since the purpose of the definition is to facilitate the application of the small business criterion to the eligibility requirements for business re-establishment payrnen the definition remains unchanged excep the addition of the requirement that there must be at least one employee at the affected site. Section 24.2(p) Unlawful The definition of "unlawful has been changed sllgtztty toclarify its IBdScaa applicability. One commenter mentioned thE custom. type of tenancy and type of qty may dictate different 14 practices in terms of dealing whir This ham bean addressed the manlawful ndi$ed T assutarices, main point of the other substantivetea this 19139 / Rules and Regulations Section 24.4 Assurarnces monitoring and comacu've action Section 24.4(aj Assurances. Six comments were received on this section. One comment about the procedures for monitoring local public agencies conducting highway projects is more appropriately considered under the FHWA's program guidance. Two commenters were concerned about the effect of the regulatory language on their current procedures and practices. One gency also asked that the requirement fora "specific reference to any State law which the Agency believes provides an exception to section 301 or 302 of the Uniform Ad" be deleted and. in its place. the lead agency request each State Attorney General to provide an opinion as to exceptions permissible under State law. This would then. be ts. provided to each State agency; t presumably by the lead agency. We believe the section on Assurances reflects the intent of sections 210 and 305 of the Uniform Ace provides reasonable uniformity for all Federal --�--, -•�• .u�wa not impose any t or .ege�e withrespect to theapprovalot State on either the Uniform agency's � e regtdation dictates die lath (sentence; paragraph, creme) of a State agency's The Uniform Act requires t ashrances be "satisfactorr end t+egulatlon requires that assurances "appropriate," and in accordance tit sections 210 and 305. for displacing acquiring agencies respectively. The assurances meet these requirements. Since it is likely that some State des may operate ander statutes ch could provide them with tions not available to other State odes, we believe it necessary for the sal State agencies, on their own to identify any State law which vides them with an exception to , 301 or 302 of the Uniform Act. One commenter may have understood the relationship between assurances and Subpart G; tion. as well as the nature of the assurances. The aces should not be viewed as an alternative to w�accaaa� H anything. Itis the other y and. even than. the certification must address the requirements of the Uniform Act covered by the assurances if the assumecertifyinState y Wends to Utiles. The assurances aadissa ors. funda>aeatgl ft is anticipated ,most st.pc.will m . comments received on tide definition be actually dealt with the relationahlp of wi this provision to 24.208, Eviction for and eral funding regency determines tha cause. As these two provisions deal Fed with basic eligibility issues. displacing the agencies should be especially aware of the interrelationship In response to comments, changes have been made inMee whi the eviction for cause provision which is excep below at 124.205. While the age intent of this provision G to generally e proscribe certain types of occupants, behalf. such as squatters. from eligibility for ro relocation payments. displacing section swedes are permitted some discretion where specific.cir�cumataeces may mis warrant a finding that the occupancy the. lawful. Ceetifirs Samson 2 2(sj Utility caste 'these w five COI Due Pre "ha ere eight comments on this paragraph. recommended the addition of the t of trash removal to utility costa. to the wide variance in local coces for trash removal ranging from al your own" to free government ons, FHWA hu not modified the definition of utility costs. All costs now furnished by c�agend are y number of re � � �eaR seryl epondeets eobrusnatedA o_ baclnd the definition of "'small buiiaess." . Specific tent on the 500y, Pu b$