II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1718

To amend the Weir Farm National Historic Site Establishment Act of 1990

to authorize the acquisition of additional acreage for the historic site

to permit the development of visitor and administrative facilities and

to authorize the appropriation of additional amounts for the acquisition

of real and personal property.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 5, 1998

Mr. LIEBERMAN (for himself and Mr. DODD) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Resources

A BILL

To amend the Weir Farm National Historic Site Establishment Act of 1990 to authorize the acquisition of additional acreage for the historic site to permit the development of visitor and administrative facilities and to authorize the appropriation of additional amounts for the

acquisition of real and personal property.

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

3 SECTION 1. WEIR FARM NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE, CON4 NECTICUT.

5 (a) ACQUISITION OF LAND FOR VISITOR AND ADMIN6 ISTRATIVE FACILITIES.—Section 4 of the Weir Farm Na-
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•S 1718 IS

1 tional Historic Site Establishment Act of 1990 (16 U.S.C.

2 461 note; Public Law 101–485; 104 Stat. 1171) is amend3 ed by adding at the end the following:

4 ‘‘(d) ACQUISITION OF LAND FOR VISITOR AND AD5 MINISTRATIVE FACILITIES; LIMITATIONS.—

6 ‘‘(1) ACQUISITION.—

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To preserve and

8 maintain the historic setting and character of

9 the historic site, the Secretary may acquire not

10 more than 15 additional acres for the develop11 ment of visitor and administrative facilities for

12 the historic site.

13 ‘‘(B) PROXIMITY.—The property acquired

14 under this subsection shall be contiguous to or

15 in close proximity to the property described in

16 subsection (b).

17 ‘‘(C) MANAGEMENT.—The acquired prop18 erty shall be included within the boundary of

19 the historic site and shall be managed and

20 maintained as part of the historic site.

21 ‘‘(2) DEVELOPMENT.—

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall

23 keep development of the property acquired

24 under paragraph (1) to a minimum so that the

25 character of the acquired property will be simi-
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1 lar to the natural and undeveloped landscape of

2 the property described in subsection (b).

3 ‘‘(B) PARKING AREA.—Any parking area

4 for the resulting visitor and administrative fa5 cility shall not exceed 30 spaces.

6 ‘‘(C) SALES.—Items sold in the visitor fa7 cilities—

8 ‘‘(i) shall be limited to educational

9 and interpretive materials related to the

10 purpose of the historic site; and

11 ‘‘(ii) shall not include food.

12 ‘‘(3) AGREEMENTS.—Prior to and as a pre13 requisite to any development of visitor and adminis14 trative facilities on the property acquired under

15 paragraph (1), the Secretary shall enter into 1 or

16 more agreements with the appropriate zoning au17 thority of the town of Ridgefield, Connecticut, and

18 the town of Wilton, Connecticut, for the purposes

19 of—

20 ‘‘(A) developing the parking, visitor, and

21 administrative facilities for the historic site; and

22 ‘‘(B) managing bus traffic to the historic

23 site and limiting parking for large tour buses to

24 an offsite location.’’.
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1 (b) INCREASE IN MAXIMUM ACQUISITION AUTHOR2 ITY.—Section 7 of the Weir Farm National Historic Site

3 Act of 1990 (16 U.S.C. 461 note; Public Law 101–485;

4 104 Stat. 1173) is amended by striking ‘‘$1,500,000’’ and

5 inserting ‘‘$4,000,000’’.

Æ