Code of Vermont Rules › Agency 11 - AGENCY OF COMMERCE AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT › Sub-Agency 050 - HISTORIC PRESERVATION DIVISION › Chapter 001 - VERMONT HISTORIC PRESERVATION ACT RULES › Section 11 050 001 - VERMONT HISTORIC PRESERVATION ACT RULES

Current through June, 2024
Rule No.1 Authority
			 and Statement of Purpose
The Division for Historic Preservation (Division) is authorized
				by
				22
				V.S.A. §
											723(10) to
				adopt rules and carry out the purposes of the Vermont Historic Preservation Act
				(VHPA), 22 V.S.A. chapter 14.
These Rules address the responsibilities of the Division, the
				State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), and the Vermont Advisory Council on
				Historic Preservation (Council) with respect to the Act 250 Environmental Board
				process, designation of resources to the State and National Registers of
				Historic Places, and other functions with which the Division, the SHPO, and the
				Council are charged pursuant to the VHPA.
Rule No.2 Definitions
The Definitions set forth herein apply to the rules of the
				Division for Historic Preservation, with the exception of Rule 3. Additional
				explanatory information, citations, and examples may be found in supplemental
				materials prepared by the Division.
2.1 "Act 250" means 10 V.S.A. chapter 151, as
			 amended from time to time.
2.2
			 "Adverse effect" means a change in a historic property's or historic resource's
			 integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and
			 association resulting from: physical destruction, damage or alteration;
			 introduction of incongruous or incompatible effects such as isolation of a
			 historic structure from its historic setting; new property uses; or new visual,
			 audible or atmospheric elements.
2.3 "Agency" (including "state agency" or
			 "independent agency") means any agency, board, department, division,
			 commission, committee, branch or authority of the state.
2.4 "Applicant" means the property owner,
			 developer of the project, or other person who has applied for an Act 250
			 permit.
2.5 "Archeological
			 Guidelines" means the Guidelines for Conducting Archeological Studies in
			 Vermont, adopted or promulgated by and periodically updated by the SHPO to
			 provide guidance on statewide policies and on appropriate archeological field
			 methodology, documentation, reporting, management of archeological collections,
			 and public education requirements for archeological investigations.
2.6 "Archeological landmark" means an
			 archeological site of significance to the scientific study or public
			 representation of the state's historical, prehistorical or aboriginal past
			 designated pursuant to
			 22 V.S.A. §
											763.
2.7 "Archeological site" means any aboriginal
			 mound, fort, earthwork, village location, burial ground, historic or
			 prehistoric ruin, mine, cave, or other location which is or may be a source of
			 important archeological data, as set forth at
			 22 V.S.A. §
											701(8).
2.8 "Area of potential effects" means the
			 geographic area or areas within which an undertaking may directly or indirectly
			 cause changes in the character or use of historic properties, should such
			 properties exist. Such area shall include the project area, and may include
			 additional areas outside of the project area. Identification of the area of
			 potential effects shall be determined after consideration of the scale and
			 nature of an undertaking, and may vary with different kinds of effects caused
			 by the same undertaking.
2.9 "CLG"
			 means Certified Local Government, a federal program established by the National
			 Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) that is administered by the Division under
			 Rule 3 of these rules.
2.10
			 "Council" or "Advisory Council" means the Vermont Advisory Council on Historic
			 Preservation as created by the VHPA at
			 22 V.S.A. §
											741.
2.11 "Cultural Landscape" means a geographic
			 area associated with a historic event, activity, or person which exhibits other
			 cultural values. There are four general types of cultural landscapes, not
			 mutually exclusive: historic sites; historic designed landscapes; historic
			 vernacular landscapes; and sites of non-western and western world view
			 landscape value, including places of religious or other traditional
			 significance to other ethnic or cultural communities.
2.12 "Days" means calendar days. If the final
			 day of an allowed timeframe falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday, the
			 timeframe shall extend to the following business day.
2.13 "District" means a group of buildings,
			 sites, structures, objects, and/or landscape features linked together by a
			 common history and development and forming a cohesive and recognizable entity
			 such as, but not limited to, a historic village center, residential
			 neighborhood, adjacent historic farms along a rural valley, the archeological
			 remains of such areas, or a group of related archeological sites in a given
			 geographic area.
2.14 "Division"
			 means the Division for Historic Preservation as created by the VHPA at
			 22 V.S.A. §
											721.
2.15 "Effect" means an alteration of a
			 characteristic or characteristics of a historic property which characteristics
			 may qualify such property for inclusion in the State or National
			 Register.
2.16 "Eligible for the
			 State and National Register" means meeting the criteria for listing, though not
			 officially listed in either Register. See Rules 2.27 and 2.40.
2.17 "Field inspection" means visiting a
			 project area to quickly assess the physical landscape for archeological
			 sensitivity, to identify areas that have been significantly disturbed in the
			 past, and to identify potential archeological issues that should be considered
			 during project planning.
2.18
			 "Field investigation" means the study of the traces of human culture at any
			 land or water site by means of surveying, digging, sampling, excavating,
			 removing surface or subsurface objects, or going on a site with that intent, as
			 set forth at
			 22 V.S.A. §
											701(4).
2.19 "Ground disturbance" or "soil
			 disturbance" means a natural or man-made alteration of the soil that alters or
			 destroys the integrity of any archeological sites contained in that
			 soil.
2.20 "Historic preservation"
			 means the research, protection, restoration, and rehabilitation of buildings,
			 structures, objects, districts, areas, and sites significant in the history,
			 architecture, archeology or culture of this state, its communities, or the
			 nation, as set forth at
			 22 V.S.A. §
											701(5).
2.21 "Historic property" or "resource" means
			 any building, structure, object, district, area, or site that is significant in
			 the history, architecture, archeology or culture of this state, its
			 communities, or the nation, as set forth at
			 22 V.S.A. §
											701(6). When used without
			 the term "historic" in these rules, the term "resource" shall mean any
			 building, structure, object, district, area or archeological site which is the
			 subject of evaluation, though not yet identified as significant.
2.22 "Historic site" means, for the purposes
			 of Act 250 and as defined in
			 10 V.S.A §
											6001(9), any site,
			 structure, district or archeological landmark which has been officially
			 included in the State Register of Historic Places and/or the National Register
			 of Historic Places, or which is established by testimony of the Council as
			 being historically significant.
2.23 "Historically Significant" means a
			 historic property or historic resource that is eligible for the State Register
			 or National Register.
2.24
			 "Mitigation" means one or more measures that would modify an undertaking in
			 order to avoid an adverse or an undue adverse effect on a resource, or
			 otherwise compensate for its damage or loss.
2.25 "National Historic Preservation Act
			 (NHPA)" means
			 16 U.S.C. §§
											470 -
			 470x-6, as amended from
			 time to time.
2.26 "National
			 Register" means the National Register of Historic Places established by the
			 NHPA.
2.27 "National Register
			 Criteria" means the criteria set forth at
			 36 CFR
			 60.4, used by the Secretary of the Interior
			 and related National Register Bulletins published by the U.S. Department of the
			 Interior, National Park Service to evaluate the qualifications of historic
			 properties for the National Register.
2.28 "Participation" means under
			 22 V.S.A. §
											742(a)(8), the performance
			 by the SHPO and Division of certain functions in federal and nonfederal
			 undertakings, as delegated by the Council.
2.29 "Potential archeological site" means an
			 area that has a high probability of containing a significant archeological
			 site.
2.30 "Potentially significant
			 property or resource" means a property or resource that may meet the criteria
			 for eligibility for the State and National Registers, or that shows a
			 likelihood of containing historic or prehistoric archeological sites based on
			 historic maps, information provided by individuals knowledgeable about the
			 history or prehistory of the area, a predictive model(s) adopted by the
			 Council, or other archival sources. (See Rule 2.21. )
2.31 "Predictive model" means an analytical
			 tool developed and used by professional archeologists to identify the
			 archeological sensitivity of a particular property or landscape. A predictive
			 model predicts where archeological sites are likely to be found based on a
			 clustering of needed human resources such as food, water, shelter, and raw
			 materials, and other environmental factors. Predictive models must be approved
			 by the Council.
2.32 "Project Area"
			 means, for the purposes of review by the Division and the Council of an Act 250
			 application, the entire area subject to the application, including portions to
			 be developed and those to be left undisturbed.
2.33 "Qualified Professional" means a person
			 who meets the Professional Qualifications Requirements published by the
			 National Park Service at 36 CFR 61, as may be supplemented by the SHPO's
			 policies from time to time. In addition, a Qualified Professional may be a
			 professional who meets the standard for historic preservationist or other
			 discipline, as adopted and published by the Division and/or the National Park
			 Service.
2.34 "RPC" means a
			 regional planning commission in Vermont.
2.35 "Secretary" means the Secretary of the
			 Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development.
2.36 "Secretary of the Interior's Standards"
			 means the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic
			 Properties, 36 CFR Part 68, July 12, 1995 Federal Register (Vol, 60, No. 133),
			 as they may be amended from time to time, and accompanying Guidelines. The
			 Standards for Rehabilitation will apply to work on buildings, except in unusual
			 cases involving reconstruction or museum-quality restoration of buildings when
			 the Standards for Reconstruction or Restoration will apply.
2.37 " Section 106 " means the section of the
			 NHPA that requires each federal agency, and, by extension, any state agency,
			 municipality or other entity using federal money or applying for a federal
			 permit or license for a particular undertaking, to take into account the
			 effects of its actions on historic properties.
2.38 "State Historic Preservation Officer" or
			 "SHPO" means the person appointed under
			 22
			 V.S.A. §
											723(a),
			 consistent with the requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act, for
			 consultation on federal undertakings.
2.39 "State Register" means the State
			 Register of Historic Places, which is the state's official listing of
			 buildings, structures, objects, districts, and sites that are significant in
			 local, state, and/or national history, architecture, archeology, and culture,
			 as authorized by
			 22
			 V.S.A. §
											723.
2.40 "State Register criteria" means the
			 standards the SHPO has adopted pursuant to
			 22
			 V.S.A. §
											723(a)(2) for
			 listing a property on the State Register. The adopted State Register criteria
			 are identical to the National Register criteria.
2.41 "Undertaking" means any project,
			 activity, or program, including action on approval, authorization, license, and
			 permit applications, that can result in a change in the character or use of an
			 historic property or historic resource.
2.42 "Undue adverse effect" on a historic
			 site for Act 250 purposes means an adverse effect that is not appropriately
			 mitigated or reasonably avoided.
2.43 "Vermont Archeological Inventory (VAI)"
			 means the written, photographic, and/or digital record of archeological sites
			 that is maintained by the Division as the inventory of the state's
			 archeological sites. Such archeological sites may be minimally or extensively
			 documented, and may not necessarily meet the criteria for listing on the State
			 or National Registers.
2.44
			 "Vermont Historic Preservation Act (VHPA)" means 22 V.S.A. chapter 14, as
			 amended from time to time.
2.45
			 "Vermont Historic Sites and Structures Survey (VHSS)" means the written,
			 photographic, and/or digital record of historic buildings, districts,
			 structures and objects that is compiled in a standardized format and maintained
			 by the Division as an inventory of the state's resources that are significant
			 for their architectural, historic or engineering merit and that appear to meet
			 the criteria for the State and National Registers of Historic
			 Places.