Page 11 - laco_ovov_final_2010

3.8 Cultural Resources

REGULATORY SETTING

The treatment of cultural resources is governed by federal, state, and local laws and guidelines. There are

specific criteria for determining whether prehistoric and historic sites or objects are significant and/or
protected by law. Federal and state significance criteria generally focus on the resource's integrity and
uniqueness, its relationship to similar resources, and its potential to contribute important information to
scholarly research. Some resources that do not meet federal significance criteria may be considered

significant by state criteria. The laws and regulation seek to mitigate impacts on significant prehistoric or
historic resources. The federal, state, and local laws and guidelines for protecting historic resources are
summarized below.

Federal Regulations

The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966

The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 established the National Register of Historic Places

(NRHP) as the official federal list of cultural resources that have been nominated by state offices for their
historical significance at the local, state, or national level. Properties listed in the NRHP, or “determined
eligible” for listing, must meet certain criteria for historical significance and possess integrity of form,
location, and setting.

Criteria for listing on the NRHP are significance in American history, architecture, archaeology,
engineering, and culture as present in districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects that possess

integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association, and that are
(a) associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history;
(b) associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; (c) embody the distinctive characteristics of
a type, period, or method of construction; represent the work of a master; possess high artistic values,

represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or
(d) have yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history. Criterion D is
usually reserved for archaeological and paleontological resources. Eligible properties meet at least one of
the criteria and exhibit integrity, measured by the degree to which the resource retains its historical

properties and conveys its historical character, the degree to which the original fabric has been retained,
and the reversibility of changes to the property.

Impact Sciences, Inc. 3.8-11 One Valley One Vision Revised Draft Program EIR
0112.023 County of Los Angeles Area Plan
November 2010