36 C.F.R. § 72.72 – Conversion requirements.

(a) Background and legal requirements. The UPARR program has made funds available for the renovation and rehabilitation of numerous urban parks and recreation facilities. In many cases, the UPARR funds were used only in a portion of a site or facility or were only a small percentage of the funds required to renovate or rehabilitate a property. Nevertheless, all recipients of funds for renovation and rehabilitation projects are obligated by the terms of the grant agreement to continually maintain the site or facility for public recreation use regardless of the percent of UPARR funds expended relative to the project and the facility as a whole. This provision is contained in the UPARR Program Administration Guideline (NPS-37) and is also referenced in § 72.36. In accordance with section 1010 of the UPARR Act, no property improved or developed with UPARR assistance shall, without the approval of NPS, be converted to other than public recreation uses. A conversion will only be approved if it is found to be in accord with the current local park and recreation Recovery Action Program and/or equivalent recreation plans and only upon such conditions as deemed necessary to assure the provision of adequate recreation properties and opportunities of reasonably equivalent location and usefulness. Section 1010 is designed to ensure that areas or facilities receiving UPARR grant assistance are continually maintained in recreation use and available to the general public.
(b) Prerequisites for conversion approval. Requests for permission to convert UPARR assisted properties in whole or in part to other than public recreation uses must be submitted by the recipient to the appropriate NPS Regional Director in writing. NPS will only consider conversion requests if the following prerequisites have been met:
1. (1) All practical alternatives to the proposed conversion have been evaluated.
2. (2) The proposed conversion and substitution are in accord with the current Recovery Action Program and/or equivalent recreation plans.
3. (3) The proposal assures the provision of adequate recreation properties and opportunities of reasonably equivalent usefulness and location. Dependent upon the situation and at the discretion of NPS, the replacement property need not provide identical recreation experiences or be located at the same site, provided it is in a reasonably equivalent location. It must, however, be administered by the same political jurisdiction as the converted property. Equivalent usefulness and location will be determined based on the following criteria:
  1. (i) Property to be converted must be evaluated in order to determine what recreation needs are being fulfilled by the facilities which exist and the types of recreation resources and opportunities available. The property being proposed for substitution must then be evaluated in a similar manner to determine if it will meet recreation needs which are at least like in magnitude and impact to the user community as the converted site.
  2. (ii) Replacement property need not necessarily be directly adjacent to or close by the converted site. This policy provides the administrative flexibility to determine location recognizing that the property should meet existing public recreation needs. While generally this will involve the selection of a site serving the same community(ies) or area as the converted site, there may be exceptions. For example, if property being converted is in an area undergoing major demographic change and the area has no existing or anticipated future need for recreation facilities, then the project sponsor should seek to locate the substitute area in another location within the jurisdiction.
4. (4) In the case of assisted sites which are partially rather than wholly converted, the impact of the converted portion on the remainder shall be considered. If such a conversion is approved, the unconverted area must remain recreationally viable or be replaced as well.
5. (5) The guidelines for environmental evaluation have been satisfactorily completed and considered by NPS during its review of the proposed 1010 action. In cases where the proposed conversion arises from another Federal action, final review of the proposal shall not occur until NPS is assured that all environmental review requirements related to that other action have been met.
6. (6) State intergovernmental clearinghouse review procedures have been adhered to if the proposed conversion and substitution constitute significant changes to the original grant.
(c) Amendments for conversion. All conversions require amendments to the original grant agreement. Amendment requests should be submitted concurrently with conversion requests or at such time as all details of the conversion have been worked out with NPS. Section 1010 project boundary maps shall be submitted with the amendment request to identify the changes to the original area caused by the proposed conversion and to establish a new project area pursuant to the substitution. Once the conversion has been approved, replacement property should be immediately acquired. Exceptions to this rule would occur only when it is not possible for replacement property to be identified prior to the request for the conversion. It will, however, be NPS policy to avoid such a situation if at all possible and to agree only if warranted by exceptional circumstances. In such cases, express commitment to satisfy section 1010 substitution requirements within a specified period, normally not to exceed one year following conversion approval, must be received from the local government agency in the form of a grant amendment.
(d) Obsolete facilities. Recipients are not required to continue operation of a particular facility beyond its useful life. However, when a facility is declared obsolete, the site must nonetheless be maintained in public recreation use following discontinuance of the assisted facility. Failure to so maintain is considered to be a conversion. Requests regarding changes from a UPARR funded facility to another otherwise eligible facility at the same site that significantly contravene the original plans for the area must be made in writing to the Regional Director. NPS approval must be obtained prior to the occurrence of the change. NPS approval is not necessarily required, however, for each and every facility use change. Rather, a project area should be viewed in the context of overall use and should be monitored in this context. A change from UPARR-developed tennis courts to basketball courts, for example, would not require NPS approval. A change from a swimming pool to a less intense area of limited development such as picnic facilities, or vice versa, would, however, require NPS review and approval. To assure that facility changes do not significantly contravene the original project agreement, NPS shall be notified by the recipient of all proposed changes in advance of their occurrence. A primary NPS consideration in the review of requests for changes in use will be the consistency of the proposal with the Recovery Action Program and/or equivalent recreation plans. Changes to other than public recreation use require NPS approval and the substitution of replacement land in accordance with section 1010 of the UPARR Act and paragraphs (a) through (c) of this section.