Many people in the county are wondering what is going on with the Gettysburg Station project and how the plans are progressing. On Tuesday evening, the Borough Planning Commission hosted a presentation by the project developer and a couple of his main assistants. This is what was discussed.
After three years since the basic plan was approved by the Borough Council, the project is still going through an approval process which will require additional steps before the project breaks ground. In addition to responding to comments by the Planning Commission, the developer needs to get approval from PennDOT in regard to how much traffic the development would add to central Gettysburg. The project also requires approval of a stormwater control plan which is governed by a different authority. And the project will have to come back before the Planning Commission again to resolve details of the landscaping and other issues.
It is important to state that the project has already been approved by the borough council and the zoning board and the architectural review board, among others. The major hurdles have already been successfully negotiated by the developer, and it is less a question of whether the project will go forward than when.
I know that there is still a fairly substantial group of citizens who would like to see the project halted or significantly modified. I am afraid that train has literally left the station. The Gettysburg Station project is going to be built. At this point they are only working out the final details.
The Planning Commission has not seen an artistic rendering of the project for a couple of years. But this year we have seen newer architectural drawings. Based on what we have seen I would like to assure my friends that the project will not adversely affect the historic and aesthetic qualities of the town around it.
The main building material will be brick of the same color and type as the19th century buildings in the downtown. The complex includes a substantial amount of green space and incorporates a bike path with attractive landscaping. The main apartment building is 7 stories high, but that building is substantially set back from both Carlisle Street and Stratton Street. There will be two smaller buildings facing on those streets, but they will only be 3 stories high in keeping with the rest of the town.
It is important to mention that even at 72 feet, the central building will not be the highest structure in town. The Hotel Gettysburg is 60 feet tall along its facade, but the north side of the building is 72 feet above street level because the foundation slopes down from front to back. Meanwhile the Gettysburg Station lot is even farther inclined below the elevation of the square. Even the 7-story building will hardly loom over the town.
In 1989 the Borough Council voted to allow 8 story buildings in the downtown in order to accommodate the Gettysburg Hotel project which required more than 4 stories to make the hotel economically viable. The hotel was eventually built with 6 stories, and it has been the linchpin of the revitalization that has occurred in the center of town.
The Gettysburg Station needs at least 7 stories to make a viable apartment complex. I think that the governing boards who ruled favorably on the station project were equally correct by taking steps to allow a thriving economic entity to replace the desolate empty lot which has been a blight in our downtown for many years. I hope the local residents who are critical of the overall plan now will change their minds when the Gettysburg Station is finally built.
John Rice
Member Borough Planning Commission