Today the National Park Service issued its final report and recommendations on the State of Hawaii’s historic preservation program, finding that despite the progress on mandated remedial actions taken since March 2010, the State did not meet the minimum standards to carry out the historic preservation responsibilities delegated to it by the National Historic Preservation Act.
The NPS cover letter to William Aila, who serves as the State Historic Preservation Officer, said that the State Historic Preservation Division (SHPD) will continue to be designated a “high risk grantee” and that a new Corrective Action Plan has been issued. The CAP 2 will be in effect until May 31, 2014, at which time “NPS will again review the operations of SHPD,” according to the letter from Stephanie Toothman, Associate Director of Cultural Resources, Partnership and Science for the National Park Service.
“If all corrective actions have been implemented satisfactorily, Hawaii SHPD will be removed from high risk status. Failure to meet the new milestones will result in the suspension or direction by NPS of all or part of Hawaii’s annual grant,” wrote Toothman.
Historic Hawaii Foundation, as the statewide nonprofit organization that encourages the preservation of places that are historically significant in the Hawaiian Islands, has been monitoring the State’s progress on the CAP since it was issued in March 2010. HHF’s actions have included hosting stakeholder meetings to provide support, advocating with elected and appointed officials for sufficient resources for SHPD to achieve the desired outcomes, and participating in public processes that help with the implementation items. HHF was the lead contractor that provided a training for the State’s Certified Local Governments (found to be “achieved and completed”) and was a sub-contractor for developing the State Preservation Plan (found to be “fully achieved and completed.”)
HHF’s Executive Director, Kiersten Faulkner, said that the NPS final report means that NPS is neither removing SHPD’s federally-recognized status nor returning it to full compliance.
“While we are disappointed that the State has failed to complete the mandated corrective action items in five of the six areas, we recognize that the division has made strong progress and important achievements in each of the areas,” Faulkner said. “We expect to continue to support the Division as it completes the final items over the next 11 months.”
The NPS final report on the Corrective Action Plan provides findings on each of the mandated actions in the specific areas of Survey & Inventory; Geographic Information Systems, National Register of Historic Places, Review & Compliance, Certified Local Government, Preservation Planning, and Program Administration. Of these, only Preservation Planning was found to be “fully achieved and completed.” The other areas showed a range from “partially achieved but not completed” to “not attempted or completed.”
The final report was accompanied by a new and restated Corrective Action Plan (CAP 2) that provides new benchmarks and deliverables in each of the areas. CAP 2 also outlines the roles and responsibilities for oversight and supervision by NPS and SHPD. Mandated actions are based on progress deadlines in September 2013 and May 2014.
The NPS Final Report & Findings, Corrective Action Plan 2, and Cover Letter to the State Historic Preservation Officer can be downloaded via the links to the right.
