Protecting our Historic Resources

The third meeting of the Section 106 Consulting Parties meeting is to happen at the Albemarle County Office Building -- Room 235 -- on February 26. And THE PUBLIC CAN ATTEND. You won't likely have any opportunity to participate in the meeting, but if you are concerned about the impacts of major highway projects on our historic and cultural resources, I urge you to attend, learn, and share your idea by writing to our federal, state, and local project planners or share your ideas and concerns on blogs (like here), in letters to the editor, before city council and elsewhere.

Section 106 refers to the section of the National Historic Preservation Act that relates to preservation of historic and cultural resources. If you are interested in this subject, do check out the implementing regulations at 36 CFR Part 800 in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulation.

Angela Tucker at the Charlottesville Department of Neighborhood Services is the coordinator for these meetings. If you wish to get some of the background material or other information about this Section 106 process I recommend you contact her. Some background materials are currently available on the Route 250 Bypass Interchange at McIntire Road project website.

Below is the draft agenda that has been distributed to members of the committee. Meetings have been about 2 hours or so.

SECTION 106 CONSULTING PARTIES COORDINATION MEETING No. 3
February 26th, 2008 @ 1:00 PM

Location:

Albemarle County Office Building- McIntire, Room 235
401 McIntire Road, Charlottesville, VA

DRAFT AGENDA

1. Review of Last Meeting
• Minutes and Comments
• APE
• Eligibility
• Letter to VDHR February 8, 2008

2. Avoidance and Minimization Alternatives
• Review of Alternatives discussed at last meeting
• Section 4(f) Alternatives
• One Way Pair
• Split Interchange
• Transportation System Management (TSM)
• Section 4(f) Avoidance Alternatives (as presented in the Environmental Assessment)
• Discussion

3. Effects Discussion
• Historic Characteristics
• Criteria of Adverse Effect

4. Next Steps- Path Forward

Materials Distributed:
1. Minutes from January 10, 2008 Meeting
2. Project Team’s Response to Comments
3. Alternatives Mapping
- Brief description, figure, and preliminary feasibility analysis of each alternative
4. Historic Significance Findings
5. Letter from City of Charlottesville to VDHR, February 6, 2008
6. Letter from FHWA to VDHR, February 15, 2008

NOTE: Distributed to consulting parties by email on February 19, 2008.