Phase 1 Archeology Study Exemption Justification

[EngWade]

All,

I'm developing a residential subdivision in New York State that will result in the need to obtain a State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit for stormwater discharges associated with construction activity (specifically, NYS SPDES GP-0-15-002). I'm unsure how many of you are familiar with this permit, but one of its requirements is to ensure the project will not result in any detrimental effects to cultural or archeologically significant resources. What this essentially means, is that the project must notify the state's Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historical Preservation, and hope they do not request the project to perform a Phase 1 Archeology study. If the state office does issue a request to perform a Phase 1, then you are faced with either performing the study, or developing a convincing enough case to waive it.

What I'm looking for from all of you is any experiences (or strategies) where your state has issued you a request to perform a Phase 1 study (or something similar), but you were successful in convincing them to rescind their request based on "x, y, and z". In my experience, if a project can document (generally with historical aerial photographic evidence) significant, prior ground disturbance, you can get the state to back off, as any artifacts of native civilizations are likely lost or altered to the point where they have lost their significance. Now, the state does explicitly mention in their request the fact that agricultural activity does not count as significant prior ground disturbance, so I haven't seen or heard of that being accepted before.

The project site is a heavily wooded area, with clayey soils, with a hardpan layer at about 18"-24". A significant portion of the site is comprised of federally regulated wetlands, but there are no streams on the site. The property was once farmed, but that was over 70 years ago approximately.

Any thoughts, questions, or experiences are much appreciated.

 

[RedBauer]

Did you look at their new GIS based website to see if you are in an archaeological sensitive area? I've been lucky enough to only receive their "no impact" letters. Had one that was located in a sensitive area but in my description, we indicated that it had been completely disturbed (upper 3-4') for several acres and still received the no impact letter.

 

[EngWade]

Thanks for the response, Red. I did go through their mapper (both the old one, and the new one, CRIS). The closest hit on the old mapper was a couple miles up the road, so I was optimistic we would not be requested to do the Phase 1. Unfortunately our site hasn't been excavated to the extent that yours was, which I suspect is why they gave you the "no effect" determination.

I'm trying to think outside the box about this. One of my thoughts was the presence of the hardpan layer, and the fact that the soils are clayey. I've been told by some historically inclined folks that native civilizations preferred to colonize on well-draining soils, adjacent to streams.

 

[RedBauer]

If your closest hit was a couple miles away, I bet you'll be fine. Fill out the SHPO form and send it to them. My guess is you'll get the "no impact" letter. Quick project description, location map, and photos....should take you 0.5 hrs to complete. SHPO will then determine if Phase IA or IB is necessary afterwards