The national Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, has been at a standstill as the National Park Service tried to negotiate the purchase of the final piece of land from owner Michael Svonavec. Svonavec’s land was the last crucial parcel needed for the planned 2,231 acre national park and included the actual crash site of the plane. Talks between Svonavec and the Park Service had become so frigid that the Families of Flight 93 went so far as to request that President Bush seize Svonavec’s land before leaving office. Today comes word that the dispute has been resolved, apparently without Bush’s intervention. The Somerset County Tribune-Democrat reports that late yesterday Svonavec and the Park Service reached an agreement, the essential terms of which are: (1) Svonavec will grant immediate access to the NPS so that construction can begin later this year; and (2) The Park Service will allow a court to determine the value of the land for Svonavec’s compensation. As part of the deal, Svonavec donated the 6 acres of land where Flight 93 crashed, in keeping with his long-stated promise to never accept money for the crash site itself.
