Economic Development and Public Benefit Conveyances

Economic Development Conveyance

To date, all of NTC, except the boat channel has been conveyed to the City, the majority of it through a No-Cost Economic Development Conveyance. The boat channel will be conveyed to the City once the Navy has completed the necessary environmental remediation work. This parcel must be found suitable to transfer based on the use projected in the Reuse Plan prior to being transferred to the City of San Diego.

Under the original Economic Development Conveyance process, the local community negotiated with the military for the sale of property at a rate less than fair market value in order to generate rapid reuse and production of jobs. The City maintained that the NTC property had a negative value and should be conveyed to the City at no cost. With approval in October 1999 of the No-Cost Economic Development Conveyance Authority as part of the Fiscal Year 2000 National Defense Act, negotiations on the reuse value of the property were no longer necessary. The cost of redevelopment, even without land cost, will be a continuing burden to the City. Similar to other cities in the United States that experienced base closures, San Diego explored several options for redevelopment, finally settling on securing a development partner to help shoulder the heavy costs and to spur reuse.

Public Benefit Conveyance

The properties designated for parks and open space, as well as for the Metropolitan Wastewater laboratory, have been transferred separately to the City as public benefit conveyances. This requires the properties to remain available for public use.

The Public Benefit Conveyance (PBC) method permits the transfer of property from the Department of Defense to the Local Reuse Authority for public purposes. The PBC ensures that the property is protected for public purposes, based on the nature and mission of the Federal agency which sponsors the conveyance. At NTC, two agencies are sponsoring PBCs, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of the Interior, National Park Service.