Feds reach agreement with landowners for Sept. 11 memorial

Nearly eight years after United Flight 93 crashed in a field in Western Pennsylvania during a struggle between passengers and the plane's hijackers on Sept. 11, 2001, the National Park Service has signed agreements with property owners to purchase the land at the crash site and begin building a memorial there.

The Park Service reached negotiated settlements with seven of the eight landowners; the eighth, the coal and quarry company Svonavec Inc., agreed in February to let the courts decide on a fair price for the property.

"Today's agreements are the result of herculean work by many people over the last several months," said Ken Salazar, secretary of the Interior Department, which oversees the Park Service.

Salazar traveled to Somerset County, Pa., twice recently to help move the deal forward. Acquiring land from the property owners has been a contentious issue. In May a local member of the Flight 93 Federal Advisory Commission resigned in protest over the government's decision to use eminent domain authority if necessary to take the land at market value for the memorial.

The Interior secretary praised the landowners in his remarks, and noted they too were victims of the Sept. 11 hijackers. "I think they wanted that recognition," Salazar said. All along the department's goals have been to ensure that landowners receive fair compensation for their land, and to complete the memorial by Sept. 11, 2011, he added.

The appraised fair-market value for all eight parcels that will be acquired by the Park Service is about $9.5 million, Salazar said.

The Park Service expects to close on the seven properties for which there are negotiated settlements in mid-October and begin construction of the memorial in November. The NPS Web site contains a description of the memorial design.

"We as a nation are rightly committed to properly honoring and memorializing the lives of those that were lost," Salazar said.