470w-7) is American legislation creating a process for the transfer of federally owned lighthouses into private hands.
Lighthouses are fairly high maintenance structures, being subject to marine air and the erosional effects of wave and ice.
In the early 1990s, the Island Institute[1] of Rockland, Maine approached the Coast Guard about acquiring the Heron Neck Light with the intent of restoring the keeper's house, which had been seriously damaged in a fire in 1989.
Negotiations dragged on for several years before the institute took charge of the light in 1993; meanwhile, the Coast Guard had announced that it intended to dispose of seven other Maine lighthouses.
This program was specifically intended to transfer properties to nonprofit groups who would maintain public access to the facilities.
The first step is the determination of the property as "excess to service requirements" by the Coast Guard and its identification as a historic structure.