Louisiana-Section 106 Programmatic Agreement-2007
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PROGRAMMATIC AGREEMENT AMONG THE LOUISIANA OFFICE OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (OCD); THE LOUISIANA STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CULTURE, RECREATION & TOURISM (SHPO); THE ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION (ACHP); THE MISSISSIPPI BAND OF CHOCTAW INDIANS (MBCI); AND THE TUNICA BILOXI TRIBE OF LOUISIANA (TBTL); REGARDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ROAD HOME AND OTHER RESIDENTIAL PROGRAMS TO ADDRESS DAMAGE CAUSED BY HURRICANES KATRINA AND RITA WHEREAS, the signatories and consulting parties to this agreement recognize the unique and unprecedented nature of the Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Recovery efforts and the need to include preservation planning in this historic effort, and WHEREAS, the State of Louisiana, administers the Road Home Program which is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which includes the following activities: - Rehabilitation of flood-damaged residential structures; - New construction or reconstruction of residential structures; - Conversion of acquired properties to green space or to commerce (in which they will be placed back into use); - Compensation of homeowners for flood damage; - "Buyout" and "Sell" elements in which homeowners transfer their properties to the Road Home program; - the rehabilitation, new construction, and reconstruction of rental properties (through the "Small Rental Property", "Piggyback," &/or other programs); and - Demolition of residential structures; and WHEREAS, each of these activities will involve a large number of individual activities that require the Louisiana Office of Community Development (OCD), as the responsible entity that assumes environmental responsibilities by recipients of HUD assistance, in accordance with HUD's Environmental Review Procedures, 24 CFR Part 58 (as may be amended from time to time), to comply with the requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and its implementing regulations, "Protection of Historic Properties" (36 CFR Part 800); and WHEREAS, the Louisiana Office of Community Development (OCD), therefore, is the "agency official" for the purposes of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) compliance, as defined at 36 CFR 800.2(a), and in accordance with HUD regulations found at 24 CFR Part 58, "Environmental Review Procedures For Entities Assuming HUD Environmental Responsibilities;" and WHEREAS, OCD has chosen to fulfill its Section 106 responsibilities by developing a Programmatic Agreement (PA) in accordance with 36 CFR Section.800.14 (b) to tailor the Section 106 review to the unique circumstances of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the goals of the Road Home Program in order to improve the availability of safe, habitable residences throughout Louisiana in an expeditious fashion; and WHEREAS, this agreement will establish the overall framework for review of activities that will affect historic resources but, as noted elsewhere in this agreement, OCD and other consulting parties will develop appropriate guidance, procedures, and directives to implement the terms of the PA during the period that this PA is in effect; and WHEREAS, the Disaster Recovery Unit, a department of OCD, administers the Road Home Program for OCD that implements hurricane recovery efforts using HUD funds, specifically those funds that were appropriated from Fiscal Year 2006 Department of Defense Appropriations Act HR 2863, Pub. L. No. 109-148, 119 Stat. 2680 (2005), dated December 30, 2005, and Fiscal Year 2006 Department of Defense Appropriations Act HR 4939, Pub. L No. 109-234, 120 Stat. 444 (2006), June 15, 2006 and WHEREAS, homeowners are eligible for the Road Home program if their property has been registered with the FEMA Individual Assistance (IA) Program and determined by FEMA to have "substantial" damagel; and WHEREAS, the following thirty-seven (37) parishes have been designated by FEMA for the Individual Assistance Program due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and are considered areas of potential effect on historic properties (the APE): Acadia, Allen, Ascension, Assumption, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Iberia, Iberville, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Lafourche, Livingston, Orleans, Plaquemines, Pointe Coupee, Sabine, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne, Vermilion, Vernon, Washington, West Baton Rouge, and West Feliciana.; a map of those parishes is attached at Appendix A; and WHEREAS, the 37 parishes enumerated above include properties listed in and eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, including the historic districts designated in Appendix B and the National Historic Landmarks enumerated in Appendix C; and WHEREAS, the Road Home program includes a "compensation" element that OCD has determined is not associated with land transfer, demolition or rehabilitation and, pursuant to 36 CFR 800.3(a)(1), has no potential to cause effects on historic properties and is not subject to further review ; and WHEREAS, the Road Home program includes "Buyout" and "Sell" elements in which homeowners transfer their properties to the Road Home Corporation, a state- created corporation. This mere acquisition of property and transfer of title, pursuant to Substantial damage means damage of any origin sustained by a structure whereby the cost of restoring the structure to it's original condition would equal or exceed 50 percent of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred. (44 CFR 59.1) 36 CFR 800.3(a)(1), has no immediate potential to cause effects and is not subject to further review under the terms of this PA; and WHEREAS, future actions affecting historic properties acquired by the Road Home Corporation will be evaluated to assess potential adverse effects as disposition strategies are further developed, consistent with the terms of this PA; and WHEREAS, future actions affecting historic properties acquired by the Road Home Corporation will be evaluated in full consideration of Section 110 (of the National Historic Preservation Act) responsibilities to locate, inventory and nominate properties to the National Register from among the universe of properties acquired under the Homeowner programs and to exercise caution to protect such properties, and to use such properties to the maximum extent feasible; and WHEREAS, the process for the redevelopment or non-development of many of the historic properties that are transferred to the Road Home Corporation, including consultation among OCD, local governments, Native American Tribes, neighborhood groups, private developers and/or other entities or groups that may participate in the planning for these "Buyout" and "Sell" properties in their neighborhoods, as well as other consulting parties to this agreement and the public, will be negotiated pursuant to the terms of this Programmatic Agreement; and WHEREAS, the Road Home includes a Small Rental Property Program that will loan money to restore and reconstruct thousands of rental properties in accordance with the terms of this Programmatic Agreement; and WHEREAS, Louisiana has also committed more than $539 million in Community Development Block Grant funds through the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency to support development and restoration of large-scale rental housing in the hurricane- affected areas through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit "Piggyback" Program which will combine CDBG funds with other incentives, such as GO Zone Tax Credits (PL 109- 135) to stimulate development and rehabilitation of larger rental properties, and WHEREAS, OCD has consulted with Native American groups and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (MBCI) and the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana (TBTL) are Federally recognized sovereign Indian Nations, which have a government- to-government relationship with the United States and an interest in the area surrounding and including all of the Parishes enumerated above, including those that have requested to participate in the PA; and WHEREAS, OCD, the MBCI and the TBTL have determined and acknowledge that implementation of the Program will result in activities that may affect historic properties such as, but not limited to, American Indian cultural sites, which include Traditional Cultural Properties (TCPs), properties that are of religious and cultural significance to the Tribes, and sacred sites including burials that may contain human remains and/or associated cultural items; and 3 WHEREAS, the MBCI and the TBTL have special expertise to identify and evaluate historic properties, TCPs, sacred sites, or other cultural resources, which are of religious and cultural significance to them, and the Tribal representatives, Traditional Cultural Authorities, or other religious/traditional practitioners need not meet Federal and/or state standards; and WHEREAS, OCD, the MBCI and the TBTL agree to use the information developed regarding properties of religious and cultural significance to Indian tribes when assessing the effects of undertakings and developing treatment and mitigation plans required under the terms of this PA and other related Tribal coordination set forth in Federal and State regulations, laws, procedures, etc. ; and WHEREAS, OCD has worked with and will continue to work with other Federal and State agencies to facilitate Section 106 compliance regarding uses of data, exchange formats, information security, timing of updates, etc. and