FAQs
Date Published: May 2014
The agency official must complete the Section 106 process “prior to the approval of the expenditure of any Federal funds on the undertaking or prior to the issuance of any license.” In other words, the agency official should initiate Section 106 as early as possible in project planning. [800.1(c)]
The agency official must ...
Date Published: May 2014
A project has No Potential to Cause Effects only when the project consists solely of types of activities that by their nature have no physical effect or consequences. When HUD makes such a determination, no further Section 106 review is required. [36 CFR 800.3(a)(1)]
Date Published: May 2014
A Programmatic Agreement may contain additional exemptions, expedited timeframes, standard treatment measures to use instead of MOAs, disaster response and recovery stipulations, and other provisions negotiated with SHPO/THPO and consulting parties. If a PA covers the program(s) assisting the project, the agency official follows the provisions...
Date Published: May 2014
The agency official should make every effort to coordinate its Section 106 review with its overall environmental assessment, per its established NEPA procedures. [36 CFR 800.8]
The Council on Environmental Quality and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation have published guidance on how to integrate NEPA and Section 106, through ...
Date Published: May 2014
Consultation means the process of seeking, discussing, and considering the views of other participants, and, where feasible, seeking agreement with them regarding matters arising in the Section 106 process [36 CFR 800.16(f)].
Date Published: May 2014
For projects on tribal lands, you must consult with tribal representatives. If the tribe has a Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO), generally, you consult with the THPO in lieu of the SHPO. However, if the project may have effects that extend off tribal lands, an affected party may request that the SHPO also participate. [36 CFR ...
Date Published: May 2014
The agency official may either proceed to the next step in the process based on the finding/determination or consult with ACHP in lieu of the SHPO/THPO. [36 CFR 800.3(c)(4)]
Date Published: May 2014
The agencies should designate a “lead agency.” [36 CFR 800.2(a)(2)]
Date Published: May 2014
The agency official must consult with Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian Organizations to identify historic properties of religious and cultural significance to tribes. [36 CFR 800.2(c)(2)(ii)(A)]
Consultation is required on historic properties on and off tribal lands, including ancestral homelands far removed from the lands that tribes ...
Date Published: May 2014
Section 106 regulations exempt immediate activities necessary to preserve life and property and provide for expedited review for other projects in the period immediately following a disaster declaration. Programmatic Agreements can also provide expedited procedures for disaster response and recovery. [36 CFR 800.12]
Date Published: May 2014
A member of the public may comment in any stage of the Section 106 review process by submitting written comments, participating in a public meeting about the project, or discussing concerns with the agency official or their representative. Certain individuals and organizations with demonstrated interest in a project may participate as consulting ...
Date Published: May 2014
Information on where SFHA are located is available on Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM) published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The SFHA is represented on the flood map by darkly shaded areas designated with the letter "A" or "V." FEMA uses engineering studies to determine the delineation of these areas or ...
Date Published: May 2014
There are four exceptions: (a) formula grants made to States; (b) State-owned property; (c) small loans ($5,000 or less); and (d) assisted leasing that does not involve repairs, improvements, and acquisition. Each category of exception is explained as follows:
HUD State-administered assistance such as Community Development Block Grants (CDBG)...
Date Published: May 2014
Section 202(a) of the Act prohibits the approval of HUD assistance for a property located within the SFHA unless the community in which the SFHA is situated is then participating in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Check the NFIP website for a community's status in the NFIP and dates of the current flood insurance rate maps. ...
Date Published: May 2014
No Federal disaster relief assistance made available in a flood disaster area may be used to make a payment (including any loan assistance payment) to a person for repair, replacement, or restoration for damage to any personal, residential, or commercial property if that person at any time has received flood disaster assistance that was conditional...
Date Published: May 2014
The authority to protect farmland is the Farmland Protection Policy Act of 1981 (7 U.S.C. 4201 et seq.), particularly sections 1540(b) and 1541 (7 U.S.C. 4201(b) and 4202). For Department of Agriculture regulations, see 7 CFR Part 658.
Date Published: May 2014
Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536 et seq.) mandates consultation to resolve potential impacts to endangered and threatened species and critical habitats—both those listed and those proposed for listing on the Federal list. The Department of Interior has issued implementing regulations at 50 CFR part 402 which are...
Date Published: May 2014
Not necessarily. You must consult with the Department of Interior (Fish and Wildlife Service) or the Department of Commerce (National Marine Fisheries Service) even when the project is outside of a critical habitat area to ensure that it will not adversely affect any endangered or threatened species. Critical habitats are geographic areas that have...
Date Published: May 2014
A project can be considered Not Likely to Adversely Affect protected resources if all potential effects are beneficial, discountable, or insignificant. Beneficial effects are contemporaneous positive impacts without any adverse effect. Discountable effects are defined as effects that are extremely unlikely to occur. To be defined as Insignificant, ...
Date Published: May 2014
It can be hard to pinpoint the stage where calling in an expert is necessary. In cases where a survey is necessary, you will have to hire a professional. However, in many or most cases, you should be able to trust your own judgment and make a finding without calling in a professional. If you’re working on a project type that has no potential ...
Date Published: May 2014
The Department of Interior (Fish and Wildlife Service) or the Department of Commerce (National Marine Fisheries Service) will make this determination during formal consultation. Once the Responsible Entity, as the action agency, has made the determination that a species is likely to adversely affect listed species and initiate formal consultation, ...
Date Published: May 2014
The Base Flood Elevation refers to the level of the flood that has a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. Advisory Base Flood Elevations (ABFEs) are maps that provide a better picture of current flood risk than the existing Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs), which in some cases are more than 25 years old. The new ABFEs...
Date Published: May 2014
CDBG-DR funds require the best available data +1 plus one foot for new construction and substantial improvement of structures. Substantial improvement is any repair, reconstruction, modernization, or improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds 50 percent of the market value of the structure before the improvement or repair ...
Date Published: May 2014
If your home is substantially damaged or destroyed, and you rebuild to the Base Flood Elevation on the currently effective FIRM, your insurance premiums may not increase immediately. However, when the Advisory Base Flood Elevations (ABFEs) become part of the next version of the flood maps, you may have to pay significantly higher premiums. Adding ...
Date Published: May 2014
No, a noise analysis is not required. HUD’s regulations at 24 CFR 51.101(a)(3) state that HUD’s noise policy does not apply to any action or emergency assistance under disaster assistance provisions or appropriations which are provided to save lives, protect property, protect public health and safety, remove debris and wreckage, or ...
Date Published: May 2014
No, ASD requirements do not apply because the definition for HUD-assisted project at 24 CFR 51.201 is predicated on whether the HUD project increases the number of people exposed to hazardous operations.
Date Published: May 2014
FEMA Region II created a website with a tool to help communities find the ABFE for properties.
Date Published: May 2014
Many states maintain reliable online inventories of listed species within the state, and these tools are acceptable sources for species lists so long as federally listed species are included and the database is updated regularly. Please read the instructions and information on your state database carefully to be sure that it satisfies the ...
Date Published: May 2014
No. Although zoning has been used in the past to make that determination, the Act was changed in 1994; it now specifies that zoning alone cannot be used to determine that a project is in an urban area for purposes of this analysis.
Date Published: May 2014
Compliance with mandatory flood insurance purchase requirements does not constitute compliance with floodplain management requirements discussed elsewhere under the heading of Floodplain Management.
Date Published: May 2014
Under Part 50, it is HUD. Under Part 58, it is the Responsible Entity.