July 20, 2020: By this Public Notice, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (Bureau) announces that on July 10, 2020, the Commission, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO) executed the attached Second Amendment to the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement for the Collocation of Wireless Antennas (Collocation NPA) This 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 Collocation NPA, which was executed in 2001 and first amended in 2016, provides that a collocation on an existing tower is excluded from Section 106 review unless it involves one of the enumerated circumstances, which include a substantial increase in the size of the tower. 5 Prior to the amendment, a “substantial increase in the size of the tower” was defined to include, among other factors, any excavation outside the current tower site.
In contrast, the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement Regarding the Section 106 National Historic Preservation Act Review Process (Wireless Facilities NPA) – executed by the FCC, ACHP, and NCSHPO in 2004, subsequent to the Collocation NPA – excludes from Section 106 review the replacement of a tower that involves deployment and excavation by no more than 30 feet in any direction outside the boundaries of an existing tower site.
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