[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 43, Volume 1]
[Revised as of October 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 43CFR17.260]

[Page 391-392]
 
                    TITLE 43--PUBLIC LANDS: INTERIOR
 
PART 17--NONDISCRIMINATION IN FEDERALLY ASSISTED PROGRAMS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR--Table of Contents
 
          Subpart B--Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Handicap
 
Sec. 17.260  Historic preservation programs.

    (a) Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the term 
``historic preservation programs'' means programs receiving Federal 
financial assistance that has preservation of historic properties as a 
primary purpose.
    Historic properties means those buildings or facilities that are 
listed or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic 
Places, or such properties designated as historic under a statute of the 
appropriate State or local governmental body.
    Substantial impairment means a permanent alteration that results in 
a significant loss of the integrity of finished materials, design 
quality or special character.
    (b) Obligations. (1) In the case of historic preservation programs, 
program accessibility means that, when viewed in its entirety, a program 
is readily accessible to and usable by qualified handicapped persons. 
This paragraph does not necessarily require a recipient to make each of 
its existing historic properties or every part of an historic property 
accessible to and usable by qualified handicapped persons. Methods of 
achieving program accessibility include:
    (i) Making physical alterations which enable qualified handicapped 
persons

[[Page 392]]

to have access to otherwise inaccessible areas or features of historic 
properties;
    (ii) Using audio-visual materials and devices to depict otherwise 
inaccessible areas or features of historic properties;
    (iii) Assigning persons to guide qualified handicapped persons into 
or through otherwise inaccessible portions of historic properties;
    (iv) Adopting other innovative methods to achieve program 
accessibility.

Because the primary benefit of an historic preservation program is the 
experience of the historic property itself, in taking steps to achieve 
program accessibility, recipients shall give priority to those means 
which make the historic property, or portions thereof, physically 
accessible to handicapped individuals.
    (2) Where program accessibility cannot be achieved without causing a 
substantial impairment of significant historic features, the Secretary 
may grant a waiver of the program accessibility requirement. In 
determining whether program accessibility can be achieved without 
causing a substantial impairment, the Secretary shall consider the 
following factors:
    (i) Scale of property, reflecting its ability to absorb alterations;
    (ii) Use of the property, whether primarily for public or private 
purpose;
    (iii) Importance of the historic features of the property to the 
conduct of the program; and,
    (iv) Cost of alterations in comparison to the increase in 
accessibility.

The Secretary shall periodically review any waiver granted under this 
section and may withdraw it if technological advances or other changes 
so warrant.
    (c) Advisory Council comments. Where the property is federally owned 
or where Federal funds may be used for alterations, the comments of the 
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation shall be obtained when 
required by section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 
1966, as amended (16 U.S.C. 470), and 36 CFR part 800, prior to 
effectuation of structural alterations.

[47 FR 29546, July 7, 1982, as amended at 55 FR 28912, July 16, 1990]