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Home Working
with Section 106 Section
106 in Action Archive
of Prominent Section 106 Cases Virginia: Norfolk Naval Station
Hangars Master Plan
Virginia:
Implementation of Norfolk Naval Station Hangars Master Plan
Agency: Department of
the Navy
Criteria for ACHP Involvement:
-
Demolition of all of the historic hangars
at the Norfolk Naval Air Station Historic District will impact a large
portion of the district (Criterion 1).
-
This case has raised questions as to whether
the selection processes for Military Construction projects include
disincentives to preservation of historic buildings (Criterion 2).
Recent Developments
On May 15, 2001, ACHP signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for
implementation of the Norfolk Naval Station hangar master plan. The MOA
accepts the demolition of the facilitys nine historic hangars and
provides for a number of mitigation measures. These include recordation
of the buildings, development of a public interpretation program for the
Naval Air Station Historic District, and development of a video on the
founding of the base.
The Commander, Navy Region, Mid-Atlantic (CNRMA) also committed in the
MOA to pursue Navy command approval to add the Norfolk Naval Shipyard
to the list of properties covered by the Programmatic Agreement (PA) for
management of historic Navy properties at Hampton Roads that was signed
in 1999.
Background
The Navy proposes to replace the nine historic hangars at Chambers Field,
Norfolk Naval Station. Through six Military Construction (MILCON) projects
phased over several years, the existing buildings would be replaced by
six new buildings. CNRMA initiated Section 106 consultation in February
2000. Because of the interconnected nature of the phases of the overall
plan, the Navy elected to address the plans components programmatically.
Because of the extent of demolition proposed, ACHP entered the
consultation.
The Norfolk Naval Air Station Historic District is one of several historic
districts at Norfolk Naval Station. It is made up of five discontiguous
parcels, the most important of which contain the World War II landplane
and seaplane hangars of Chambers Field. Management of these and other
historic properties at Norfolk Naval Station is subject to the PA for
management of historic Navy properties at Hampton Roads that was signed
in 1999. In accordance with that PA, the hangars have been identified
as Category I buildings, the highest level of significance in the categorization
system established by the PA. (For more information on the history and
architecture of the Navys Hampton Roads facilities, visit www.hrnm.navy.mil/Architectural.)
By November 2000, after 10 months of consultation, the Navy, ACHP,
and the Virginia State Historic Preservation Office reached agreement on
the language of a PA for the hangar demolition plan. Acknowledging the deficiencies
of the hangars in meeting modern aircraft needs, it was agreed that six
hangars would be demolished, and the remaining three would be studied for
possible future reuse for various aircraft-related functions.
Then, about three weeks later, CNRMA reversed its position, indicating
that it could not agree to future study of retaining any hangars since
that would make the projects uncompetitive in the MILCON selection process.
CNRMA also asserted that mission and program constraints made any reuse
of the buildings untenable.
MILCON projects are developed and reviewed during a lengthy annual process
that requires the branches of the military to anticipate their future
construction needs and compete for congressionally allocated funds. There
is not enough money to fund all construction requirements, so the Navy
has established a scoring system for selecting which projects it will
submit for congressional funding consideration.
In some circumstances, projects receive points for demolition, and CNRMA
indicated that demolition of the Norfolk hangars would have to be included
in the hangar master plan projects if they were to remain competitive.
If this were the case, it would conflict with the stewardship mandates
of Section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) as well
as the letter and spirit of Section 106 and ACHPs implementing
regulations, since it would make reconsideration of demolition effectively
impossible.
Concerned that this case might highlight a serious systemic problem for
the Navys compliance with Section 106, ACHP staff sought clarification
on the MILCON process from the Deputy Assistant Secretary (Environment
and Safety), the Navys Federal Preservation Officer. She reassured
ACHP that there indeed is sufficient flexibility in the MILCON
scoring system to permit adequate consideration of alternatives to demolition.
Thereafter, consultation continued, focusing on CNRMAs new conclusions
regarding mission and program constraints on possible reuse of the hangars
for other aviation uses.
Policy Highlights
While demolition of buildings is not required in order to obtain MILCON
funding for Navy projects, there is a scoring preference given to demolition,
and this can lead to misinterpretation, as apparently occurred in the
case of the Norfolk hangar master plan. The Army and Air Force also have
procedures for selecting which MILCON projects they will promote for limited
congressional funding, so this issue may not be unique to the Navy.
In order to gauge the magnitude of the problem, ACHP has requested
the Secretary of Defense, in his position as an observer on ACHP,
to report on how the military services MILCON selection processes
work, with an evaluation of their incentives and disincentives for preservation
and their overall compatibility with the policies of NHPA.
Staff contact: Druscilla Null
Updated
June 6, 2002
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