PUBLIC NOTICE
Chicago District Regulatory Update
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Chicago District
Please be informed that there is a change in District policy to begin immediately.
Applicants and/or their authorized agents are not required to send a written request to the Illinois State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) for a Section 106 review of your project. The Corps is responsible for Section 106 reviews and will notify the applicant/authorized agent of our determination as warranted. Please continue to submit all required information along with your application as outlined in our application checklist and the RPP and IP permit process.
The following conditions in the RPP will be modified as follows:
General Condition 4 of the Regional Permit Program:
4. Historic Properties - In cases where the District determines that the activity may affect properties listed, or eligible for listing, in the National Register of Historic Places, the activity may require an Individual Permit. A determination of whether the activity may be authorized under the RPP instead of an Individual Permit will not be made until the requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) have been satisfied.
Federal permittees designated as the lead agency shall follow agency specific procedures for complying with the requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. Federal permittees must provide the District with the appropriate documentation to demonstrate compliance with those requirements.
Non-Federal permittees must include notification to the District if the authorized activity may have the potential to cause effects to any historic properties listed, determined to be eligible for listing on, or potentially eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, including previously unidentified properties. For such activities, the permit application must state which historic properties may be affected by the proposed work or include a vicinity map indicating the location of the historic properties or the potential for the presence of historic properties. Assistance regarding information on the location of or potential for the presence of historic resources can be sought from the State Historic Preservation Officer or Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, as appropriate, and the National Register of Historic Places (see 33 CFR 330.4(g)).
When reviewing permit submittals, the District will comply with the current procedures for addressing the requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. Based on the information submitted and these efforts, the District will determine whether the proposed activity has the potential to cause an effect on the historic properties. Where the non-Federal applicant has identified historic properties which the activity may have the potential to cause effects and so notified the District, the non-Federal applicant must not begin the activity until notified by the District either that the activity has no potential to cause effects or that consultation under Section 106 of the NHPA has been completed.
The District must take into account the effects on such properties in accordance with 33 CFR Part 325,
Appendix C, and 36 CFR 800. If all issues pertaining to historic properties have been resolved through the consultation process to the satisfaction of the District, Illinois State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) and Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the District may, at its discretion, authorize the activity under the RPP.
Applicants are encouraged to obtain information on historic properties from the SHPO and the National Register of Historic Places at the earliest stages of project planning. For information, contact:
Illinois State Historic Preservation Office
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Attn: Review & Compliance
Old State Capital
1 Natural Resources Way
Springfield, IL 62702
(217) 782-4836
https://www2.illinois.gov/dnrhistoric/Pages/default.aspx
If you discover any previously unknown historic, cultural or archeological remains and artifacts while accomplishing the activity, you must immediately notify this office of what you have found, and to the maximum extent practicable, stop activities that would adversely affect those remains and artifacts until the required coordination has been completed. The District will initiate the Federal, Tribal and State coordination required to determine if the items or remains warrant a recovery effort or if the site is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
General Condition 23 (J) of the 2017 Regional Permit Program:
j. A statement about the knowledge of the presence or absence of historic properties, which includes properties listed, or properties eligible to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The permittee must provide all pertinent correspondence documenting compliance. Initial documentation required for the Illinois State Historic Preservation Officer (ILSHPO) is located here: https://www2.illinois.gov/dnrhistoric/preserve/pages/resource-protection.aspx. The Historic and Architectural Resources Geographic Information System (HARGIS) at http://gis.hpa.state.il.us/hargis/ is the public portal to Illinois’ historic buildings, structures, sites, objects, and districts. This database contains properties that have been listed in the National Register of Historic Places, determined eligible for listing, or surveyed without a determination.
If you have any questions, please contact the undersigned by telephone at (312) 846-5535, or email at keith.l.wozniak@usace.army.mil. You can also visit our website at http://www.lrc.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory.aspx for more information on our program.
FOR THE DISTRICT COMMANDER:
Original Signed
Keith L. Wozniak
Chief, Regulatory Branch