The City Council today is scheduled to vote on whether to allow the city administration to sign an agreement creating a framework to address the impacts of the rail project on historical resources.

Today's hearing will be the second of back-to-back council votes requested by the city as it races to start construction on the $5.5 billion elevated commuter rail line by year's end.

Yesterday, the council Transportation Committee voted 3-2 to pass a resolution authorizing the city to enter into a "programmatic agreement" with the Federal Transit Administration, Hawaii State Historic Preservation Division, National Park Service and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

The agreement would address the rail project's impacts on a variety of historical resources, including the USS Arizona Memorial and human burials.

Committee members Romy Cachola and Charles Djou voted against the resolution, saying they were concerned that the details of the proposed agreement have yet to be settled. At least four consulting parties to the proposed agreement — the Oahu Island Burial Council, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Historic Hawaii Foundation and the American Institute of Architects — are pushing for changes to the current language of the agreement.

Additionally, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation last week said no formal agreement had been reached.

The programmatic agreement is required under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, which requires federal agencies to take into account the impacts of their projects on historic properties.

City Transportation Director Wayne Yoshioka said the agreement is mostly complete.

"Basically the key items that have been discussed over a period of time are where they ought to be and that's what we're going to move forward with," he said.

The council needs to pass the resolution so the city can send it to potential signatories.

The agreement needs to be completed and signed before the FTA will release the final environmental impact statement for the rail project.

If all goes as planned, the city expects to begin construction about five weeks later. The first phase of service between Kapolei and Waipahu would begin in December 2012, and the full service to Ala Moana Center in March 2019.

So far, the Oahu burial council has expressed the most vocal objection to the agreement. The council, which is charged with protecting Native Hawaiian burials, is opposed to plans to run the rail line through Kakaako via Halekauwila Street. That route will almost certainly encounter buried human remains, which could result in pressure to move the remains, delaying the project and driving up costs, according to the council.

The burial council recently decided not to sign the agreement. Because the burial council is only a consulting party, their decision isn't expected to stop or delay the commuter train project.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann's administration has said it will be sensitive to the issue of Native Hawaiian burials, but won't alter the route from going through the area, which sits on a band of sandy deposits that are believed to contain many human remains. That route was chosen by the City Council in late 2006 based on a study of various transit alternatives conducted a year earlier.

Council members Nestor Garcia, Rod Tam and Gary Okino voted to pass yesterday's resolution. The city has followed all required procedures in drafting the agreement, Okino said.

"There are prescriptions (in it) to make sure none of our historic resources are undermined or compromised," he said. "I think we've done a more than adequate job of going through this process."

City officials said they are confident that all major parties, including the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, will sign the current version of the agreement, possibly with some slight changes.

The city would need to seek City Council approval of any major changes to the agreement.

Councilman Romy Cachola said groups such as the burial council and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation should be allowed more time to provide input on the agreement. Until then, the agreement is not complete, Cachola said.

"I can't support something that is not complete," he said.