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BARC Demolition Project
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BARC Demolition Project

BARC Surplus Building Demolition Initiative

The United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (USDA ARS) is proposing demolition of 118 buildings at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) facility in Beltsville, Maryland. The entire BARC facility is a historic district determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)[1]. The buildings and structures (i.e. corrals, retaining walls, etc.) slated for demolition are contributing elements of the NRHP district. As a result, their removal would constitute an adverse effect to the district under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA)[2]. The undertaking is also subject to review and compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)[3]

 

The buildings are being considered for demolition for multiple reasons: (1) to reduce costs related to maintenance and repair for buildings that no longer meet current physical space, purpose, or safety requirements for ARS’s current research missions, (2) executive orders and directives, and (3) regulatory requirements. Budget constraints require limited resources to be focused on existing building stock that can still meet BARC’s research mission. Federal facilities with buildings and structures in similar circumstances are what prompted the release of the National Strategy for Real Property and the companion Reduce the Footprint Policy in March 2015 by the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget[4].The National Strategy is a three-step framework to improve real property management and utilization of government-owned buildings, reduce the number of excess and underutilized properties, and improve the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of the government’s property portfolio. The Reduce the Footprint Policy requires agencies to submit annual Real Property Efficiency Plans that set annual square foot reduction targets for Federal domestic buildings over a rolling 5-year period.

 

BARC Historic District

Under USDA ARS’s obligations under Section 110 of the NHPA[5], BARC was first documented as a historic property in the 1970s with updated survey and official NRHP eligibility determination occurring in 1998. The boundaries of the NRHP district include the entire 6,582-acre research center. It is eligible under both NRHP Criteria A and C[6] for its historic associations and as a designed landscape.

 

Under NRHP Criterion A, the facility is significant for its role in “the development of a national center for agriculture experimentation and testing.”[7] It maintains associations with the New Deal and Federal Depression-era programs of the 1930s and 1940s, and the “diversity of the scientific research conducted at BARC has influenced many aspects of 20th century living for the farmer as well as the consumer.”[8]

 

Under NRHP Criterion C, the facility is significant as a designed landscape with significant influences from “the planning team of A.D. Taylor, landscape architect, and Delos Smith, architect” during the 1930s[9]. It also maintains associations with the Civilian Conservation Corps and was influenced by the individual divisions within BARC and their research missions. Contributing features of the landscape include “major paved roads, including Powder Mill Road, minor service roads, field and research crops, pasture lands, seasonal ponds, forests, sustainable meadows, other landscape features, and buildings.”[10] The district’s period of significance extends from the facility’s founding in 1910 through its reclassification as a regional research facility in 1984.

 

Previous Studies

The Maryland Historical Trust (MHT) maintains a 6-volume set of the original Historic Site Survey (report PR 299), and a number of documentation efforts have occurred in the intervening years to identify contributing features of the district. In 2017, an addendum to the significance statement for the district further defined significant historic contexts for evaluation of contributing resources, some of which extend further into the twentieth century. Significant themes identified included the Federal role in agricultural research, experimental agricultural research, New Deal policies and programs, landscape architecture, experimental agricultural architecture, and Georgian Revival architecture, each encompassing numerous subthemes. Buildings and structures proposed for demolition encompass the entire period of significance and most of the relevant themes. Links to the previous studies are provided for reference.          

 

 

Development of a Programmatic Agreement

In addition to the overall environmental review of the proposed action in compliance with NEPA, special consideration must be given to the adverse effects the proposed action will have under Section 106 of the NHPA and what measures should be considered to resolve those adverse effects. As demolition and associated redevelopment plans have not been finalized, and thus the specific timing and nature of potential adverse effects to historic properties is unknown, USDA ARS proposes development of a Programmatic Agreement (PA) pursuant to § 800.14 of Section 106 of the NHPA (54 U.S.C. § 306108) as codified in its implementing regulations at 36 CFR Part 800 to facilitate implementation of the surplus building removal and associated demolition and development activities at BARC. This PA will allow demolition activities to proceed in a timely manner as funding becomes available. Using the procedures outlined in § 800.6 of Section 106, the agreement will outline:

where warranted;

during implementation of the PA; and

 

Public Engagement

This website contains additional information regarding the buildings and fulfills commitments to engage consulting parties and to provide the public opportunity to comment on the undertaking as required under NEPA and Section 106 of the NHPA. For additional information or request to become a consulting party, please contact:

 

USDA Project Manager - Chizo Irechukwu at (301) 440-1413 or chizo.irechukwu@usda.gov

 

Section 106 Consultant - Brandy Harris at (512) 558-2884 or bmharris@burnsmcd.com.

 

Consulting party requests must be received by December 20, 2021. If you do not respond within this timeframe, you may request consulting party status in the future, but the project may continue to advance without your input.

 

The map identifies the buildings proposed for demolition as well as the presumed Areas of Potential Effects (APEs) for each. Links to photographs, Maryland Historical Trust Determination of Eligibility Forms, and excerpts from previous studies for each building (where available) are imbedded in the map.

 

[1] https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/index.htm

[2] https://www.achp.gov/protecting-historic-properties/section-106-process/introduction-section-106

[3] https://ceq.doe.gov/

[4] https://obamaadministration.archives.performance.gov/initiative/reduce-footprint.html

[5] https://www.nps.gov/fpi/section110.html

[6] https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/upload/NRB-15_web508.pdf

[7] Lorin Farris. Addendum to Maryland Historical Trust Inventory of Historic Places Form. March 17, 2017. Prepared by AECOM.

[8] P.A.C. Spero & Company. Maryland Historical Trust Determination of Eligibility Form, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (PG:62-14). October 1, 1998.

[9] Farris 2017

[10] P.A.C. Spero & Company 1998

 BARC MAP Instructions