On July 20, 2020, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (“Bureau”) released a Public Notice announcing that the Commission, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (“ACHP”), and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (“NCSHPO”) executed the Second Amendment to the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement for the Collocation of Wireless Antennas (“Collocation NPA”). The Collocation NPA facilitates the collocation of wireless facilities on existing towers by eliminating review under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act for certain collocations that involve a limited expansion beyond the boundaries of a tower site.
The FCC, ACHP, and NCSHPO agreed to amend the Collocation NPA to eliminate an inconsistency in how to determine whether to exclude a collocation from Section 106 review under the Collocation NPA versus the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement Regarding the Section 106 National Historic Preservation Act Review Process (“Wireless Facilities NPA”). Under the Second Amendment to the Collocation NPA, a collocation is excluded from Section 106 review if it would not “expand the boundaries of the current tower site by more than 30 feet in any direction or involve excavation outside these expanded boundaries,” provided that the collocation complies with other criteria for exclusion specified in the Collocation NPA.
This amendment will be effective upon publication in the Federal Register.
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