I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3976

To amend the Act establishing the Gateway National Recreation Area to

provide for the management of Fort Wadsworth by the Secretary of

the Interior, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 8, 1994

Ms. MOLINARI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Natural Resources

A BILL

To amend the Act establishing the Gateway National Recreation Area to provide for the management of Fort Wadsworth by the Secretary of the Interior, and for other

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. AMENDMENT OF ACT ESTABLISHING GATEWAY

4 NATIONAL RECREATION AREA.

5 (a) STATEMENT OF PURPOSES.—The first section of

6 the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to establish the Gateway Na7 tional Recreation Area in the States of New York, and

8 New Jersey, and for other purposes’’, approved October
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1 27, 1972 (16 U.S.C. 460cc), is amended by inserting the

2 following after the first sentence: ‘‘In addition, the Sec3 retary may utilize the resources of Fort Wadsworth in the

4 Staten Island Unit, Fort Hancock in the Sandy Hook

5 Unit, and Floyd Bennett Field in the Jamaica Bay and

6 Breezy Point Units of the recreation area to provide for

7 and support programs and activities that foster research,

8 education, and demonstration projects concerning the en9 vironment, international affairs, cultural understanding,

10 and health and science. The Secretary may also utilize the

11 resources of Fort Wadsworth for any other purposes con12 sistent with the community reuse plan or other initiatives

13 for Naval Station New York, and is encouraged to do so

14 to the greatest extent possible.’’.

15 (b) ADMINISTRATION.—Section 3 of such Act (16

16 U.S.C. 460cc–2) is amended by adding the following new

17 subsection at the end thereof:

18 ‘‘(j)(1) In addition to other available authorities, the

19 Secretary may, in his discretion, negotiate and enter into

20 leases or other agreements, as appropriate, with any per21 son, firm, association, organization, corporation, or gov22 ernmental entity for the use of any property within Fort

23 Wadsworth, Fort Hancock, and Floyd Bennett Field in

24 accordance with the general management plan or for any

25 of the purposes set forth in the first section of this Act.
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1 The Secretary may further, in his discretion, negotiate

2 and enter into leases or other agreements, as appropriate,

3 with any Federal agency to house employees of the agency

4 engaged in activities or programs at Fort Wadsworth,

5 Fort Hancock, Floyd Bennett Field or in the New York

6 City metropolitan area.

7 ‘‘(2) In addition to other available authorities, the

8 Secretary may, in his discretion, enter into interagency

9 permitting agreements or other appropriate agreements

10 with the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Transpor11 tation, and other Federal agencies to locate their activities

12 and house their employees at Fort Wadsworth, Fort Han13 cock, and Floyd Bennett Field.

14 ‘‘(3) Any leases or other appropriate agreements en15 tered into under this subsection shall be subject to such

16 procedures, terms, conditions, and restrictions as the Sec17 retary deems necessary. Leases shall be entered into at

18 fair market value, which shall be calculated taking into

19 account the uses permitted by the general management

20 plan or under this Act. The preceding sentence shall not

21 apply to (A) any interagency permitting agreement en22 tered into between the Secretary and the Secretary of De23 fense or other Federal agencies regarding the location of

24 activities or housing of employees at Fort Wadsworth,

25 Fort Hancock, and Floyd Bennett Field; (B) leases en-
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1 tered into in accordance with a community reuse plan for

2 Naval Station New York; (C) any lease or use agreement

3 entered into with any State or local governmental unit or

4 instrumentality for a public purpose; or (D) leases entered

5 into with nonprofit organizations.

6 ‘‘(4) The Secretary shall establish competitive bid7 ding procedures to be used for the issuance of leases under

8 this section. For leases and other appropriate agreements

9 under this subsection, the Secretary may waive any re10 quirement of any law or regulation otherwise applicable

11 to the leasing of Federal properties if the Secretary deter12 mines that such waiver is necessary to carry out the pur13 poses of this Act. The Secretary shall provide written no14 tice of any such waiver to the United States Congress.

15 The notice to Congress shall contain an explanation of the

16 reasons for such determination.

17 ‘‘(5) The proceeds from leases under this subsection,

18 and from concession and other use authorizations and

19 from other services that may be provided by the recreation

20 area under this subsection, shall be retained by the Sec21 retary and be credited to the appropriation bearing the

22 cost of preservation, restoration, maintenance, improve23 ment, repair, and related expenses including administra24 tion of the above, incurred by the Secretary with respect

25 to Fort Wadsworth, Fort Hancock, and Floyd Bennett
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1 Field properties, with the balance used to defray other

2 costs incurred by the Secretary in the administration of

3 Fort Wadsworth, Fort Hancock, and Floyd Bennett Field.

4 ‘‘(6) Each lessee and sublessee of a lease entered into

5 under this subsection shall keep such records as the Sec6 retary may prescribe to enable the Secretary to determine

7 that all terms of the lease or sublease have been and are

8 being faithfully performed. The Secretary and the Comp9 troller General of the United States and their duly author10 ized representatives shall, for the purpose of audit and ex11 amination, have access to all records and to other books,

12 documents, and papers of the lessee and sublessee perti13 nent to the lease or sublease and all the terms and condi14 tions thereof.

15 ‘‘(7) The Secretary shall annually prepare and submit

16 to Congress a report on property leased under this sub17 section.

18 ‘‘(8) In addition to other available authorities, the

19 Secretary may, in his discretion, enter into cooperative

20 agreements and permits for any of the purposes of the

21 recreation area set out in the first section of this Act.’’.

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