H.R. 820 would establish the New Philadelphia National Historic Site in Illinois as a unit of the National Park System and would authorize the National Park Service (NPS) to acquire about 42 acres of land by donation, exchange, or purchase. The NPS would need to develop a management plan for the park and enter into agreements with other landowners to identify, interpret, and preserve nonfederal land within or near the site.
Using information from the NPS, Pike County, Illinois, and other interested parties, CBO estimates that acquiring the land and developing a management plan would cost less than $500,000 over the 2022-2026 period. CBO expects that more than half of the land would be donated; the remaining property would probably be purchased over the following five years. Any such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
Once the NPS has acquired enough land to constitute a manageable unit, the agency could establish the site and would incur costs to operate and maintain the site’s properties and facilities. Because of the uncertainty about when the land would be acquired, CBO has not estimated those costs.
