January 29, 2010
Dear Coalition Friends,
The National Park Service has sent out the message below announcing another public consulting meeting for the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool rehabilitation next Friday, February 5, from 2-4 p.m. Your concerns, and those of relevant review agencies, about the project's impact on the Lincoln Memorial landscape and pool apparently have been heard.
Please remember that the deadline for comments on this project is today, January 29th, at midnight. As we wrote in our January 25th UPDATE, let NPS hear your voice:
- Provide your comments on the NPS website.
- Then send a copy to the Coalition at kay@savethemall.org so we can hear what you have to say.
FROM THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE:
Subject: Section 106 Consulting Parties Meeting Rehabilitation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Area Landscape
NOTICE: Section 106 Consulting Parties Meeting
REHABILITATION OF THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL REFLECTING POOL AREA LANDSCAPE
The National Park Service hereby notifies the Consulting Parties invited under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act to review and provide comments on the planning and design of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Rehabilitation Project that an additional Consulting Party Meeting has been scheduled. The purpose of the meeting is to take into account comments received from the public by the closing date of January 29, 2010 on the December 2009 Draft Environmental Assessment prepared for the project, as well as through the course of the Section 106 process. A further reason for holding another consultation session (the fourth combined Consulting Party/NEPA meeting) is that the ongoing design process, based in part upon comments already received, has produced a new alternative for the project’s Water Supply System component. A description of the new alternative will be posted in advance of the meeting on the NPS’s Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) website at www.parkplanning.gov.
The meeting will be held from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., Friday, February 5, 2010 in the 2nd Floor conference room of the National Capital Region headquarters, located at 1100 Ohio Drive, SW, Washington, DC. The NPS sincerely regrets the short notice provided. As the project is to be funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the NPS must adhere to stringent obligation and execution deadlines and coordinate its NEPA and Section 106 compliance with numerous other planning, design, and permitting reviews. (The next opportunity to attend a formal presentation of the latest design by the architects will be at the regular February 18, 2010 meeting of the U. S. Commission of Fine Arts.)
With regard to the status of the Section 106 process, the NPS has accepted the informal advice of the District of Columbia Historic Preservation Office (DC SHPO) and others and decided to withdraw its determination of “no adverse effect” under 36 C.F.R. 800 upon National Register of Historic Places properties (made in a recent letter to DC SHPO.) Issues that appeared to negate the finding of no adverse effect included the visual impact of the planned paving of dirt paths on the historic appearance of the granite coping surrounding the Reflecting Pool, above ground impacts of the water circulation and filtration systems, and the permanent security measures proposed for the east side of the Lincoln Memorial. The nature of the adverse effects anticipated, as well as potential means to avoid, minimize, or mitigate them, are generally described in the Cultural Resources section of the Draft Environmental Assessment and have been further developed through the consultation process. The NPS now anticipates resolving outstanding historic preservation issues by means of a Section 106 Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). Please check PEPC on or about February 2 for a preliminary draft outline of the MOA as well as information indicating how the NPS has responded to comments received as of January 29.
To confirm the attendance of you and/or your organization at the February 5 meeting, please contact Perry Wheelock at 202-619-7088 or at perry_wheelock@nps.gov.
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