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Prominent Section 106 Cases:
Hawaii:
Management and Redevelopment at Pearl Harbor Naval Complex/Navy Region
Hawaii
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Agency: U.S. Navy
Criteria for Council Involvement:
- The Navy's management and redevelopment activities in Hawaii have
the potential to adversely affect a large number of historic properties,
including the U.S. Naval Base Pearl Harbor National Historic Landmark
(Criterion 1).
- Proposed development of a Programmatic Agreement will alter the way
the Section 106 process is applied to management activities at the Naval
Region Hawaii (Criterion 2).
Recent Developments
The Navy convened a meeting in December 2000 with the Council, the
Hawaii State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), the National Park
Service (NPS), the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the National Trust for
Historic Preservation, and the Historic Hawaii Foundation to develop a
Programmatic Agreement (PA) for management of all properties within the
Navy Region Hawaii. The Navy invited four additional parties, the Oahu
Council of Hawaii Civic Clubs, the Outdoor Circle, the Missouri Memorial
Association, and the Bowfin Association, to participate.
Main
shipyard building, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
The PA will apply not only to the Pearl Harbor
Naval Complex (including the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate
Maintenance Facility) but also to outlying naval installations on Oahu and
the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands on Kauai. A final
draft of the PA is circulating for comment.
The PA specifically excludes the Ford Island redevelopment project, and
consultation on this project is expected to begin soon. Because of the
Navy’s Ford Island redevelopment plans, NPS recently named Naval Base
Pearl Harbor to its list of threatened National Historic Landmarks. It is
anticipated that further national attention will be focused on this
historic property when a major movie about the attack on Pearl Harbor
opens this spring and the 60th anniversary of the attack is celebrated on
December 7, 2001.
Background
The Pearl Harbor Naval Complex is the Navy's largest and most strategic
base in the Pacific. Encompassing more than 12,600 acres of land and
water, it serves as the headquarters of five major fleet commands. More
than 1,200 of the buildings and structures constructed during the base's
100-year history are included in the U.S. Naval Base Pearl Harbor National
Historic Landmark (NHL), which was designated in 1964.
The NHL designation commemorates the 1941 Japanese attack on the base
which propelled the United States into World War II, as well as the
strategic role the base has played through time in the Pacific. In
addition, the base contains important Native Hawaiian archeological sites,
including traditional stone-walled fishponds. (For more information on
historic properties at Pearl Harbor, visit the "virtual
tour" of Pearl Harbor.)
The Navy, Hawaii SHPO, and the Council entered into a Memorandum of
Agreement (MOA) for the management of the Pearl Harbor Naval Complex in
1979. The agreement is more than 20 years old and, measured against
today's standards, including 1997 Navy guidance on planning for historic
properties, needs to be updated and improved.
Although the MOA called for periodic reviews, none were initiated, and
properties were not re-evaluated to determine if their management by the
Navy was still appropriate. Moreover, the MOA provided no opportunity for
public involvement, included no provisions regarding archeology, and
contained vague treatment standards.
Of particular concern, the MOA virtually excluded the Council from any
review role, contrary to the 1992 amendment of Section 110(f) of the
National Historic Preservation Act, which calls for Council participation
in review of activities affecting NHLs.
Problems with the 1979 MOA were highlighted by the Navy's 1998 plans
for the redevelopment of Ford Island. Ford Island is located in the harbor
and contains buildings and structures associated with its historic use as
officer housing and a naval air station. The island was, traditionally,
accessible only by ferry, but in 1998 a bridge opened between the island
and the mainland.
That access will facilitate a proposed $500 million master plan that,
as originally proposed, would include 600 homes for Navy personnel, a Navy
museum, and other development. (For more information on the proposed Ford
Island redevelopment, visit the Ford
Island development Web site.)
At the February 1999 Council meeting in Hawaii, Council members gained
first-hand understanding of the complexities of the Navy's Ford Island
plans, as well as the Navy's challenges in managing numerous obsolete and
deteriorated facilities within the Naval Complex.
Concern voiced by the Council members has resulted in the Navy's
willingness to revisit the Pearl Harbor Naval Complex MOA and expand its
scope. In connection with the development of the PA, the Navy is preparing
an Integrated Cultural Resources Management Plan (ICRMP) that will be
implemented by the PA upon its acceptance by the consulting parties.
Additionally, the Navy has opened parallel discussions regarding the
redevelopment of Ford Island and has focused the efforts of its ICRMP
planning team on the island's resources in order to assist in this
consultation.
March 2000
report on this case
Staff contact: Lee Keatinge
Posted March 21, 2001
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