Agreement on Pa. 9/11 Memorial

The National Park Service and a group of 9/11 families have reached agreement with a Pennsylvania landowner, allowing construction to begin this year on a memorial to the victims of United Airlines Flight 93, the parties announced last night.

Svonavec Inc., a Somerset, Pa.-based concrete company, will allow access to 274 acres that it owns, land that has been at the heart of a long-running dispute, according to a joint news release from the Park Service, Svonavec and Families of Flight 93, an advocacy group.

The company will also let a court decide a sale price for the land and will donate six acres where the plane first hit the ground, according to the agreement.

The Boeing 757 plummeted into the Pennsylvania countryside near Shanksville, after passengers thwarted attempts by al-Qaeda hijackers to take the plane to Washington. All 33 passengers and seven crew members died along with the terrorists. President Bush cited the heroic uprising in his farewell speech to the nation Thursday night.

Svonavec had refused to sell the land amid appraisal disputes with the Park Service, putting at risk plans to complete most of the permanent memorial by the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Families of Flight 93 had asked Bush to intervene by seizing the land if necessary.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said the negotiations had been a priority for Bush.

Mike Svonavec, owner of the concrete company, said he was "proud and pleased" with the deal.