Opinion ID: 691304
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Compliance with federal regulations

Text: 47 The issue of substantial compliance with federal regulations is more complex. The DCFMA-BZA, though established concurrently in federal and District of Columbia law, is a local, not a federal, body. See NTHP I, 834 F.Supp. at 451. Section 206 of the FMA requires the DCFMA-BZA to consider historic preservation as determined by the Board ... in carrying out this section. 22 U.S.C. Sec. 4306(d)(2). As noted above, the FMA requires the DCFMA-BZA to consider only whether an applicant has substantially, not strictly, complied with federal historic preservation regulations. One searches in vain, however, for any substantive federal regulations with which Turkey's project could be in or out of substantial compliance. See 36 C.F.R. parts 61 and 800. In fact, the only relevant historic preservation requirement is in a statute, not a regulation, and is procedural: under Sec. 106 of the NHPA a federal agency must first refer to the ACHP for advice any project it proposes to fund or to license. 48 Consequently, the plaintiffs argue, and the district court agreed, that the DCFMA-BZA should have submitted Turkey's proposal to the ACHP. While they have not raised any substantive challenge to the DCFMA-BZA's determination that the existing building is of marginal architectural quality and that the historic preservation criterion has been satisfied, they suggest that the procedure for resolving a difference between a federal agency and the ACHP, see 36 C.F.R. part 800, could bring about a more appropriate resolution of their dispute with the DCFMA-BZA. As the plaintiffs acknowledge, however, an agency need not heed any advice it receives from the ACHP. 49 There is no indication in any statute or regulation that the federal dispute-resolution process would be applicable were the ACHP to receive a referral from a local rather than a federal agency. The NHPA contemplates that the ACHP will review the policies and programs of Federal agencies, whereas no provision is made for the ACHP to review the individual determinations of a local body. 16 U.S.C. Sec. 470j(a)(6). On the contrary, the NHPA contemplates that the states will create, and the ACHP will approve, state programs responsible for carrying out the purposes of the [NHPA] at the local level. 36 C.F.R. Sec. 61.2(b). (The District of Columbia is considered a state for purposes of these regulations. See 36 C.F.R. Sec. 61.2(o)). 50 In view of the state-federal relationship sketched in the NHPA, the defendants argue that whatever substantial compliance requires when there are no substantive federal standards with which to comply, it was sufficient for the DCFMA-BZA to submit Turkey's proposal to the HPRB and to consider that body's advice in making its final determination regarding the proposal. We agree. 51 The federal historic preservation concerns raised by Turkey's proposal were addressed to and by the HPRB, then considered by the DCFMA-BZA, in much the same way that they would have been addressed to and by the ACHP in the case of a federal agency's proposal. To require the DCFMA-BZA to submit all proposals to the ACHP would overread a statute that directs the DCFMA-BZA alone to consider whether there has been substantial compliance with federal regulations. In this case the DCFMA-BZA's referral of the matter to the HPRB brought it well within the limits of substantial compliance, whatever the precise boundaries of that concept may be. We therefore reverse the district court's holding that the DCFMA-BZA was required to submit Turkey's proposal to the ACHP for review.