Appendix C - Stewardship and Oversight Agreement

APPENDIX C - ADMINISTRATIVE AGREEMENTS

Existing Formal Agreements

Title/Topic: Categorical Exclusion (CE) Programmatic Agreement
Description: Under this agreement, ODOT determines applicability of FHWA's prior approval on CE and wetlands findings.
Parties Involved: ODOT and FHWA
Date Issued/Revised: March 6, 2003

Title/Topic: Historic Bridge (Section 106) Programmatic Agreement
Description: This agreement establishes what bridges are historic, pursuant to Section 106. Also, historic bridges are managed as a system, in which the historic status is more quickly identified.
Parties Involved: Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), Ohio State Historic Preservation Officer (OSHPO), ODOT, and FHWA
Date Issued/Revised: April 3, 2002

Title/Topic: Section 106 Programmatic Agreement
Description: ODOT would act on behalf of OSHPO and FHWA for all actions that do not have an Adverse Effect, pursuant to Section 106. In case of an Adverse Effect, ODOT would determine the Area of Potential Effect.
Parties Involved: ACHP, OSHPO, ODOT, and FHWA
Date Issued/Revised: July 17, 2006

Title/Topic: Agreement for Stream Crossings and/or Minor Wetland Fills
Description: This agreement outlines prior concurrence on CE projects based on literature searches, thereby ensuring compliance with the Endangered Species Act and the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act.
Parties Involved: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), ODOT, and FHWA
Date Issued/Revised: July 22, 2003

Title/Topic: Farmland Agreement
Description: This agreement establishes when coordination for the Farmland Preservation Policy Act is required (although such coordination is seldom required).
Parties Involved: U.S. Soil Conservation Service (now the U. S. Natural Resource Conservation Service), ODOT, and FHWA
Date Issued/Revised: December 4, 2000

Title/Topic: Section 4(f) Programmatic Agreement
Description: Under this agreement, ODOT acts on nationwide Section 4(f) programmatic evaluations and makes non-applicability determinations. There are several exceptions.
Parties Involved: ODOT and FHWA
Date Issued/Revised: October 10, 2001

Title/Topic: Carbon Monoxide (CO) Hot-Spot Analysis Requirements MOU
Description: This MOU establishes when a project-level CO analysis is required, pursuant to the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments.
Parties Involved: Ohio EPA, ODOT, and FHWA
Date Issued/Revised: January 1997

Title/Topic: Alternate Procedures for Consultant Selection
Description: This agreement allows the use of ODOT procedures in selecting consultants, with FHWA program-level oversight. The latest amendment of this agreement specifies that ODOT maintains copies of agreements for FHWA review, instead of forwarding a copy of each agreement.
Parties Involved: ODOT and FHWA
Date Issued/Revised: The agreement originally was enacted on July 26, 1994. However, a minor revision (see above) was made in 2001.

Title/Topic: Section 404 and Section 10 Permits Cooperative Agreement
Description: This agreement provides for priority review of Section 404 and Section 10 permits through interagency funding of the United States Army Corps of Engineers USACE) for Federal-aid highway projects in Ohio. It establishes a USACE office in Columbus that works exclusively on ODOT projects.
Parties Involved:ODOT, FHWA, and USACE
Date Issued/Revised: May 16, 2005

Title/Topic: State Scenic Rivers Memorandum of Agreement
Description: It establishes coordination procedures and Best Management Practices for highway projects within 1,000 feet of a State Scenic River.
Parties Involved: ODOT, ODNR, and FHWA
Date Issued/Revised: February 4, 2003

Title/Topic: Programmatic Agreement for Utility Agreements
Description: This agreement steamlines the overall process by allowing ODOT to act on behalf of the FHWA for actions such as utility relocation plans, estimates, reimbursement eligibility, and billings, with compliance assurance resting with the Central Office Utilities Section.
Parties Involved: ODOT and FHWA
Date Enacted: January 9, 2004

Existing Informal Agreements

Title/Topic: Informal Agreement with USEPA
Description: The intent of this agreement is to keep USEPA informed on substantive issues in Ohio. For example, ODOT periodically provides USEPA with information on approaches for satisfying NEPA requirements. As part of this understood arrangement, ODOT annually sends its High Impact List (those projects expected to be EA/FONSI) to USEPA.
Parties Involved: USEPA, ODOT, and FHWA
Date Enacted: Not Applicable. Used but never formally documented.

Title/Topic: Materials Certificates
Description: Under this informal agreement, material certificates are maintained in ODOT project files and are not routinely submitted to FHWA. However, these certificates can be obtained by FHWA, upon request.
Parties Involved: ODOT and FHWA
Date Enacted: This informal agreement was established in late-2001 and supplemented through a March 27, 2002 letter from FHWA to ODOT.

Title/Topic: Right-of-way Certificates
Description: Under this informal agreement, ODOT no longer submits copies of rightof-way certificates to the FHWA. For Federal Oversight projects, ODOT provides an electronic version of the right-of-way certificate with the PS&E package. ODOT's Office of Contracts retains the original copies of these certificates for all projects.
Parties Involved: FHWA and ODOT
Date Enacted: This informal agreement was enacted in January 2002. This agreement will be reflected in a set of process documentation that is being prepared by ODOT and FHWA.

Proposed Formal Agreement

Title/Topic: Endangered Species Programmatic Consultation Agreement
Description: This agreement intends to improve agency coordination and streamline the Endangered Species Act consultation process regarding the Indiana Bat.
Parties Involved: USFWS, ODOT, and FHWA
Date Issued/Revised: Fall 2006

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