SPECIAL NOTE

The FAC board reviewed and approved a response to the ACHP Program Comment on Accessible, Climate Resilient, Connected Communities. While FAC supports these types of programs and finding ways to streamline the process, we want to ensure the continued protection of cultural resources, thus the board felt that the current ACHP program comment is not well thought out. Several key issues are that it appears to  unilaterally and perhaps inappropriately (particularly based on a recent SCOTUS decision (Chevron) eliminate the requirement for SHPO, THPO, and public consultation under Section 106 for a variety of activities currently subject to full review according the process outlined in 36 CFR 800. Also from an archaeological standpoint there is a significant oversight in that it largely ignores the potential for some of the activities to adversely affect potentially eligible/unrecorded archaeological sites. It also appears to establish a process by which a potentially unqualified individual (SOI standards or any other standards for historic preservation professionals) to make unilateral decisions about effects to properties older than 45 years that have not been evaluated for NRHP eligibility without consulting any additional parties, affiliated, affected, or otherwise. It also appears to unintentionally establish a pathway by which successive changes to a building can be exempt from review without consideration of, or consultation about, the cumulative effects of a restoration, for example.

 Please find the FAC response HERE. Additional responses can be found at Response to ACHP Proposed Program Comment on Accessible, Climate-Resilient, & Connected Communities - NCSHPO