Hi, Randy--

It appears the general term for this sort of property transfer from the
government is "disposal" (or less formally, "transfer"), so as you search
you may want to keep those terms in mind.

One of the main avenues of disposal appears to be a "Public Benefit
Conveyance (PBC)," which allows "eligible units of State and local
governments and certain nonprofit institutions [to] acquire surplus real
property for public benefit uses at monetary discounts of up to 100 percent.
Public benefit conveyance categories include parks and recreation, historic
monuments, airports, health, education, correctional facilities, highways,
and wildlife conservation [i.e. the use must continue to be for public
benefit]."  The other means by which federal property is disposed is via a
"negotiated sale."

Perhaps the most useful source of information would be the Library of the
Office of Property Disposal at the General Services Administration:
http://rc.gsa.gov/ResourceCenter/PublicPages/default.asp?type=3  They might
be able to help you find a list of all disposed properties in Virginia.

The Library is a part of the GSA's Property Disposal and Customer Care
Center:
http://rc.gsa.gov/ResourceCenter/nonPRmain.asp

Which is itself  part of the GSA's Office of Property Disposal:
http://propertydisposal.gsa.gov/property/

Here is a partial list of disposed federal land in Virginia (focusing only
on that used for parks):
Lands to Parks: Re-Use of Closed Military Bases (BRAC)
http://www.nps.gov/ncrc/programs/flp/brac.html

And a broader list (of Virginia lands in the Lands to Parks program) is
here, including some that are along the Blue Ridge:
http://www.nps.gov/ncrc/programs/flp/states2/flp_va.html

If you're interested, there's quite a large Cato Institute study available
on the question of "Should Congress Transfer Federal Lands to the States?"
at http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-276.html.  It's got quite a bit of
background information on the question.

Hope this helps!

All my  best,

--Eric

Eric D. M. Johnson
Proprietor
The Village Factsmith Historical Research & Consulting
The Cybernetick Inkwell Web Design & Development
http://www.factsmith.com/
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Randy Cabell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2004 8:29 AM
Subject: Federal Land returned to ....


Is there any one place where I can go to find out if and when and how much
land once owned by the US Government has been returned to the Commonwealth
of VA, or local govts, or private parties?  I think that it may have happend
at Lorton in northern Va, and perhaps former NIKE sites around DC, and maybe
around military installations like Ft. Lee, Ft. Story, etc.  But any along
the Blue Ridge?

Randy Cabell

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