TR Circular E-C058_9th LRT Conference_2003.pdf - Florida ...

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SPECIAL CHALLENGES
There were many special challenges faced when implementing the property exchange
agreements.
To some degree or another, the DB contractor had to perform some of the services
promised to the agency because the work needed to be coordinated with track construction.
Having the DB contractor do any work for a federal agency is difficult to coordinate. The federal
property owners had to work within the review procedures established in the contract with the
DB contractor. This usually meant that the agency had to review plans within the 15-day review
period that the HPO had to work with. In the future it is recommended that separate review
procedures be established whenever work is to be performed on private property.
Another significant challenge was working on military bases during the recent military
actions overseas. On 9/11, a Council contractor was working on the USAR base constructing the
office building. That afternoon, the contractor was forced to vacate the site and was not allowed
to resume work for a week. Once allowed back on, what had been a relatively relaxed
atmosphere had turned into a situation with armed guards and searches. At first, the contractors
were not allowed to bring their trucks on site, which was challenging for the workers. After a
couple of weeks working in this environment, a fence was erected around the work zone and a
separate entrance provided for the contractor. The site was secured at night but it was no longer
necessary to pass armed guards every day. When work on the Air Guard base began, the same
technique was used to segregate the construction of the building from the rest of the base.
However, some of the work still had to be performed in the secure area and this required that
security personnel escort workers.
LESSONS LEARNED
The experience with federal agencies described is necessarily in summary form. It would be
impossible to provide a complete history in such a short paper. But there are important lessons
that can be learned from the Minneapolis experience.
Avoid Federal Land if Possible
Attempting to acquire federal land introduces both schedule and financial risks to the project.
Unless pushed energetically, the process can be slow, tedious, and frustrating. Until negotiations
are complete, costs are difficult to predict. If possible, federal land should be avoided.
There are cases however, when using federal land can clearly benefit a project and the
federal landowner. For example, serving a Veterans Hospital is clearly beneficial to the project
and to the public good. In these cases, the federal agency is much more likely to do what is
necessary to bring about the project. In the case of Fort Snelling, all of the agencies involved
were cognizant of the benefits of having a station near their bases.
Learn About the Agency
Each federal agency is different, with different personalities and different rules. It is important to
take the time to understand the structure of an agency, the agency’s mission, and the decision-