Land and Water Conservation Fund Assistance for the Pioneer Courthouse Square Project

The Land and Water Conservation Fund is the largest federal program providing money specifically for outdoor recreation and is administered by the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service. The Pioneer Courthouse Square Project, Portland, Oregon, qualifies as an outdoor recreation project within the meaning of appropriate legislation.

Since Portland had a binding commitment with a private concern to purchase the land at a low price, the proposed amendment to permit reappraisal of the land parcel was unnecessary. Funds from the Urban Mass Transportation Administration do not conflict with funding from Land and Water Conservation funds because the requested funds are for rapid transit improvements outside the square and are not dependent upon how the city develops the park. Legislation authorizes the use of community development funds to pay the required nonfederal or local match of another grant program that, like Pioneer Square, is part of the locality's community development program. A complete review of the Land and Water Conservation Act restriction and grant program authorizations is needed if Congress is to fully evaluate the local matching requirements it initially envisioned for Land and Water Conservation Fund projects.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: No director on record Team: No team on record Phone: No phone on record