The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) amendment to the Section 4(f) requirements allows the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to determine that certain uses of Section 4(f) land will have no adverse effect on the protected resource. When this is the case, and the responsible official(s) with jurisdiction over the resource agrees in writing, compliance with Section 4(f) is greatly simplified.

The de minimis impact criteria and associated determination requirements specified in Section 6009(a) of SAFETEA-LU are different for historic sites than for parks, recreation areas, and wildlife and waterfowl refuges. De minimis impacts related to historic sites are defined as the determination of either "no adverse effect" or "no historic properties affected" in compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). De minimis impacts on publicly owned parks, recreation areas, and wildlife and waterfowl refuges are defined as those that do not "adversely affect the activities, features and attributes" of the Section 4(f) resource.

This T-Class will provide an overview of the process of determining de minimis impacts of transit projects that propose the use of Section 4(f) property. The T-Class will be presented by Joseph Ossi, Environmental Protection Specialist from the Federal Transit Administration. The T-Class is delivered in a telephone conference format and will last 90 minutes. Mr. Ossi will present the topic during the first 45 minutes of the teleconference; the last 45 minutes are dedicated to open phones for questions from the audience.