SEMO SIC Schematic Design and Assessment of Effects

The National Park Service (NPS) Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail (SEMO) continues in its efforts to acquire and develop a portion of a city block for an expanded Selma Interpretive Center (SIC) in downtown Selma, Dallas County, Alabama. As discussed in our previous consultation, the NPS proposes to expand the existing SIC, currently located in a renovated historic building at 2 Broad Street to include the half of the adjoining city block, in order to develop an Interpretive Center that is adequate to convey, interpret, and preserve sites associated with significance of the historic Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March of 1965.

The current center, a small contact station, is located just north of the Edmund Pettis Bridge, a National Historic Landmark (NHL); the proposed facility would deliver critical visitor engagement at the most iconic structure along the National Historic Trail. The purpose is to develop a modern, accessible, and visitor-oriented facility that will feature a Voting Rights Center that honors the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement and its leaders. The expanded facility would provide interpretive, educational, monumental, and recreational spaces serviced by modern utilities.

The NPS has developed this proposal in consultation with the Alabama State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and in accordance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended; the Advisory Council's procedures on historic preservation (36 CFR Part 800); and the 2008 Programmatic Agreement (PA) between our agency, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers.

The NPS embraced an overall treatment approach for the project, following the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, of rehabilitation: the process of returning a property to a state of utility, through repair or alteration, which makes possible an efficient contemporary use while preserving those portions and features of the property which are significant to its historic, architectural, and cultural values. The development of the proposal from initial design through detailed value analysis has resulting in a schematic design that preserves the historic buildings and is in keeping with the character of the associated historic districts.

The schematic design is of sufficient detail to allow us to adequately understand the nature of the effects on historic properties. The results of our analysis are documented in the attached Assessment of Effects report, prepared by Quinn Evans and Stantec in close consultation with the Park and the NPS CRM Team. This documentation for consultation includes the design development documents showing the schematic design of the SIC. Based on this documentation, the NPS applied the criteria of adverse effect to historic properties that would be affected by the undertaking (36 CFR 800.5).

The NPS found that action would not detract from the ability of these resources to convey their significance and would therefore have no adverse effect on any aboveground historic property. Undertakings of this type also have the potential to affect archeological deposits, however, because of the nature of the undertaking, limited subsurface disturbances associated with project activities, and the extent of past disturbance, it is anticipated that undertaking would not adversely affect significant archeological deposits.

However, the NPS commits to the monitoring of all construction-related ground disturbances by professional archaeologists under the direct supervision of the NPS Southeast Archaeological Center (SEAC) in accordance with the attached monitoring plan and the discovery provisions of 36 CFR 800.13 to ensure this action would have no adverse effect on significant archaeological resources.

Document Content:

SEMO SIC Assessment of Effects Report.pdf   (5.2 MB, PDF file) SEMO SIC Schematic Design Drawings.pdf   (9.4 MB, PDF file) Disclaimer: Links within the above document(s) were valid as of the date published. Note: Some of the files may be in PDF format and can be viewed using the Adobe Acrobat Reader software. You may download a free copy of from Adobe Systems.