The Cultural Resource Protection program within the Illinois State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) uses a digital submission and review process. We do not accept hardcopy submissions of Regulatory projects. Click here for instrutions on how to check the status of our review of your projects.
Small-Cell undertakings require permits from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and, therefore, are reviewable under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.
Areas of Potential Effect (APE) for small-cell undertakings.
If the project's Areas of Potential Effect (APEs) are within or immediately adjacent to a locally designated historic district or a National Register historic district, the small-cell installations/replacements must be grouped together in a single submission. Until and unless the FCC instructs otherwise, if the existing, replacement, or new pole is equal to or less than 50 feet in height, the APE around the pole will have a 500-foot radius. If the project proposes to move an existing pole more than 100 feet/30 meters from its existing location, this office will consider the proposal to be a new pole installation. Proposed small-cells that are within a one-mile radius of each other and are a part of the same undertaking must be submitted to the SHPO together.
Electronic submission:
Email your submission to
SHPO.Review@Illinois.gov. You do not have to combine the documents into one .pdf.
If your submission is 25 MB or larger in total size:
- Place all your documents into one folder and omit any commas in the folder name
- Compress or "zip" the folder (information from
Microsoft regarding zipping files)
- Upload the zipped folder to:
https://filet.illinois.gov/filet/PIMupload.asp, and enter "SHPO.Review@Illinois.gov" as the recipient
- Click on "Advanced Options" and select "15 days" as the length of time your documents will remain on the State FTP site
Your small-cell submission must contain:
Cover letter
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The cover letter must be on your organization's letterhead and include the following information:
- Project's county, street address, and municipality. If no street address is available, please provide nearest street, section, township, and range. For unincorporated areas, please provide the nearest municipality and county.
- Complete description of your project
- Names of state and/or federal agencies and entities that are providing funding, licenses, permits, or approvals for your project
- Name, email address, phone, and mailing address of the project contact
- Previously assigned SHPO log numbers associated with your project (if any)
- Total acreage involved in the project
- Height of all poles within the undertaking
- Type of installation—i.e., new pole, replacement pole, collocation of new equipment on an existing pole, replacement of existing equipment on an existing pole
- For replacement poles that will be installed in the same location as the pole being removed, confirmation that the pole position will remain the same
- For replacement poles, percentage increase or decrease in height
- For replacement poles, distance and direction from existing poles proposed for removal
- Year of construction for each structure within the APE(s)
- Any known historical information, architectural significance, significance to community, or association with a significant individual for any cultural resources within the project's APE(s)
Maps & images
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- Map showing your project's location
- Color photos taken within the past 6-to-9 months of all structures in the project area or Area of Potential Effect, preferably without foliage blocking the view. Photos should show the buildings' exteriors and front elevations. If clear images cannot be obtained because of right-of-way issues, submit the best photo available, and include an explanation. Images must be appropriately named, high-resolution ".jpg" or ".pdf" files. Image files with the ".heic" extension will not be accepted.
- Representative interior photos of any structures over 40 years of age
- High-resolution digital scans of relevant historic photographs and previous architectural plans (if applicable/available)
Architectural/engineering plans and specifications
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If architectural or engineering plans and specifications have been prepared, please submit them. We would like to review your project as early in your planning process as we can. If you have only schematic or diagrammatic plans, please submit them. If you don't yet have architectural or engineering plans and if we need to review them, we will request that you submit them to us when they are developed.