During the ongoing rezoning of Gettysburg Borough and review of the proposed 7-story “Gettysburg Station Project” building proposed for downtown, borough officials have repeatedly represented to the community that Gettysburg needs more housing. At the August 19, 2024 Planning Commission meeting I requested that borough officials provide the public with evidence to substantiate this determination.
Borough Planning Director John Whitmore has informed the public that the need for more housing follows from the Central Adams Joint Comprehensive Plan and borough staff direction. At a Planning Commission meeting on September 16, 2024 the borough’s consultant from Michael Baker International stated that the need for more housing in Gettysburg is due to a “national housing crisis.”

But only anecdotal information and no concrete data has been provided to support the need for more housing in the borough of Gettysburg.
At the August 19 Planning Commission meeting, a borough resident questioned the borough’s representations about our population. I followed up with my own research.
According to the 2020 US Census the population of the borough was 7,106. The borough had 2,586 housing units of which 2,303 were households. 283 units, therefore, were unoccupied in 2020. Housing units are houses, apartments, and mobile homes. Households are the people who occupy the housing units.
On multiple occasions I have heard borough officials state that the borough population is “around 4000 or 5000” without specifying the basis for these statistics. Could this difference from the Census numbers be because borough officials do not count Gettysburg College students as part of our population? College students utilize the resources and infrastructure of the borough: utilities, hospital, fire, EMS, and police. They impact off-campus housing availability, quality of life, and they vote in the borough. They are part of the population and community and should not be discounted by our borough officials.
The Central Adams Joint Comprehensive Plan states that the projected population for the region in 2025 (Cumberland Township, Straban Township, and Gettysburg borough) is 20,720. According to the 2020 Census, the total for the region at that time was 18,990 with 7,659 housing units and 7,114 households. 545 housing units were unoccupied in 2020.
Following the Comprehensive Plan would direct us as a region to work towards 1730 more residents by 2025.
Amblebrook was in the first phase of construction during the 2020 Census compilation. Few if any residents were included. Today, there are approximately 1116 residents at Amblebrook bringing our regional population to 20,106 if you add the 2020 Census and the 1116 residents at Amblebrook. To meet the projected 2025 population of 20,720 we need only 614 more residents.
Amblebrook has approximately 570 existing single-family homes and construction is planned for 257 more homes.
Also, under construction within 2 miles of Lincoln Square are:
Cambridge Crossing, 79 Townhomes at Route 34 and Boyds School Road.
Union Square: 300 Apartments at 83 Hunterstown Rd and Rt. 30
Kortney Meadow: 158 Single Family homes north of Rock Creek between Old Harrisburg Road and Hunterstown Rd.
Granite Lake: 256 Single Family Homes between Heritageland Tank and Rt. 15 (behind Giant)
The Reserve at Rock Creek: 243 Apartments, retail shops and Aldi’s
1863 Flats: 96 Apartments off Rt. 30 and Shealer Road (north of CVS and Panera Bread)
When this development is completed there will be an increase of 639 apartments and 750 single family homes in our region, a total of 1389 additional housing units within 2 miles of Lincoln Square, not including the proposed 186 apartments of the Station Project within one block of Lincoln Square. This would create a staggering surplus of housing in light of the projections in our own Comprehensive Plan and the figures in the 2020 Census.
The Comprehensive Plan states that the density for residential development for Gettysburg’s downtown core is targeted at 12 dwelling units per acre. There is nothing in the Comprehensive Plan that creates high density housing such as that described in the Station Project. This project will be approximately 77 dwellings per acre! According to the US Census Bureau, the average population density within US cities is approximately 1600 people per square mile. Gettysburg borough is 1.7 square miles. Our 2020 Census population of 7106 results in a current density of 4,180 people per square mile, 2.5 times the national average! With our current density and projected spurt of apartments and single-family home construction, do we have a “National Housing Crisis” in Gettysburg? If we have 639 apartments (and 750 single family homes) planned within 2 miles of Lincoln Square, what happens when the 186 apartments in the Station Project cannot be rented?
Residents and taxpayers deserve to know what sources and data borough officials are using to justify rezoning to increase housing density and to approve 186 apartments in our congested downtown. The borough’s “housing driven” approach has the potential for changing the makeup of neighborhoods and eliminating options for some private properties. A “housing driven” approach also can be detrimental to business and employment opportunities.
I encourage everyone to fact-check, visit the borough website for dates and times, and come to the borough meetings.
A calendar of county municipal meetings is here.
Borough Council meets the second and fourth Monday of the month. The Planning Commission meets the third Monday of the month but changes can occur due to holidays.
Write or call your borough Council representative. Ask questions and get involved before irreversible changes are made to our community and quality of life.
Part of the issue is that Gettysburg Borough has no data regarding the number and type of existing housing units versus whether it serves those who are seeking housing. Yet, the rezoning is taking what appears to be an overzealous, broad brush emphasis on residential, borough-wide. In some cases, it takes away existing opportunities for low-impact uses that could provide amenities or jobs. (Removal of Residential Office on Carlisle, for example). It would have been helpful to have heard — upfront in the Rezoning effort — from the Adams County Planning Office regarding what information they have about Census data,… Read more »
These are the agencies that have created the health and human service agencies here in our community, exactly as they are for what I can see as only not having to put in work for funding and not having to deal with a person’s need once they’re out the agency door I agree with you and what you’re sayig 100%t I think it’s the agencies and the fact that it’s their numbers that they quote when they want to for their benefit. Centralized intake when families are in need get them in the system statewide puts their need and their… Read more »
Comprehensive plans do absolutely nothing except for layout a vision for community planners to apply for community planning block funding grants- which are administered by the federal agency of the Housing and Urban Development however, not in the way so many residents in Adams County are looking for, desperately needing help to cover rents that have more than doubled since 2015. Residents are needing access to the billions of dollars released for grant funding every year.- millions of dollars in grants specifically released for the specific purpose-of proving money to pay the rent quickly through emergency funding gramts to make… Read more »
Unfortunately, the folks who make some of these decisions have their own agenda to fulfill? I read all the statistics and figures that may decide the fate of our small town! Gettysburg is a small town and the housing needs do seem to be out of sync with how large the town itself is. As a person who lives, works and shops in gettysburg, I can concur that the traffic situation is deplorable. Adding a few thousand more cars, without changing the single lane roads, circles, and dead end roads; but adding more businesses is insanity. When will a responsible,… Read more »
A few descriptors are missing from this analysis. Affordable and attainable come to mind. How many of the housing units being built around Gettysburg are affordable and attainable for employees in Gettysburg? It isn’t about raw housing data, it’s about who can live in Gettysburg. Gettysburg Station WILL have a percentage of attainable units, Amblebrook and all of the $300,000+ homes are not for many locals. In fact if interest rates stay high, expect the excess housing permits outside of Gettysburg to sit and be renewed for a few years. It’s speculation to say they will all be built now.… Read more »
And all of us deserve the chance to keep Gettysburg’s historic integrity. Destroy it with development and there will no longer be a reason for any tourist to come to or return to Gettysburg. And who is talking about gentrification? This has nothing to do with that. This is about overdeveloping 2.4 acres a half block from Lincoln Square so that a NY developer can maximize his profits using a great deal of free taxpayer money to build housing that we don’t need. As for permits outside of Gettysburg sitting, almost all of the development 2 miles east of Gettysburg… Read more »
As I understand it, Gettysburg Station will only have 10 out of 186 “affordable units”. The remainder will be “market price”. It’s a start, but a very, very, small percentage of the units being built. Do those 10 units justify the massive impact on noise, pollution, traffic, water and services created by the 176 “market value” units?
I would be curious to see the overall funding data sheet. I would bet that community block grants will show up as part of the funding avenues. I bet that there will be various historic area, rehabilitation opportunities, zone low interest, matching funding line items. Quoting data Regarding homelessness and near homelessness at newly constructed, housing units is not going to give any data whatsoever as to the reality of the housing situation here in Gettysburg. The rental history and the credit score needed to even actually get a callback from any of those places Eliminates at a minimum 60%… Read more »
Why has there been no published traffic impact study that would show the impact on the Square, Carlisle Street, Stratton Street – including in front of the Fire Department, etc.? Or did I miss the traffic impact study? The traffic impact study is done and paid for by the developer as part of the planning process. With the anticipated volume of vehicle trips in and out of the apartment/commercial complex, it is vital to know if our existing streets can handle what could be hundreds more vehicles daily or what traffic improvements need done by the developer versus falling into… Read more »
I was told by the county planning office that an impact study is only required after the building has been done. What?
https://www.google.com/search?q=adams+county+comprehensive+plan&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS1064US1064&oq=adams+county+comp&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgCEAAYgAQyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQABiABDIHCAIQABiABDIICAMQABgWGB4yCAgEEAAYFhgeMggIBRAAGBYYHjIICAYQABgWGB4yCAgHEAAYFhgeMggICBAAGBYYHjIICAkQABgWGB7SAQkxMjcxMGowajSoAgKwAgHiAwQYASBf&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8
You will see from this search listing. It’s very much done and they did it under everyone’s nose. They even put in better water system, anticipating the boys bears purchase.
Have fun digging through them I’m sure you will come to the same conclusions. Everybody who wasn’t part of making them has come to.
Ryan- I do not think a traffic study has been done yet. I assume this will be a requirement now that the developer is in the process of submitting a plan to the planning commission. It has been stated the Station Project will be on the upcoming agenda possibly in February. I subscribe to the Gettysburg Borough agenda’s which you can do on their webpage so all the agendas get emailed directly to your email when they become available. This way you can see what is happening. I will tell you that the borough council agenda’s usually arrive Friday afternoon… Read more »
it’s there we just don’t know it. It would be in the various phases of the Adams County comprehensive plan. You can find parts online and there’s one over at the ag center the final final plan that they like to keep really close to not the public. All the traffic studies are what they did to figure out where they were putting bike lanes between Chambersburg and Hanover. It’s crazy when you start reading it. Phase one I believe is done and that was quite a lot of money to redo the intersection by the post office. I don’t… Read more »
https://www.google.com/search?q=adams+county+comprehensive+plan&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS1064US1064&oq=adams+county+comp&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgCEAAYgAQyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQABiABDIHCAIQABiABDIICAMQABgWGB4yCAgEEAAYFhgeMggIBRAAGBYYHjIICAYQABgWGB4yCAgHEAAYFhgeMggICBAAGBYYHjIICAkQABgWGB7SAQkxMjcxMGowajSoAgKwAgHiAwQYASBf&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8
Thank you Shelly Knouse for a well researched and organized piece. It is important that the tough questions are asked, and that decisions are fact based regardless of popularity.
Thank you Shelly Knouse for this well researched and organized piece. It is important to ask the tough questions even if they aren’t popular. I empathize with the low to middle income folks who have difficulty finding housing they can afford. The current proposed development will not address that problem in any meaningful way, unless they are counting on a housing glut to bring rental prices down. A strategy which will have an adverse affect on property owners and their ability to own and maintain their rentals. Anyone who lives in downtown Gettysburg can tell you that we already have… Read more »
I fully support the Gettysburg Station Project for the simple reason that more residents living within the Gettysburg Borough will help lower the tax burden for the existing Borough residents. As cited in the article, “The Central Adams Joint Comprehensive Plan states that the projected population for the region in 2025 (Cumberland Township, Straban Township, and Gettysburg borough) is 20,720.” Also cited,”According to the 2020 US Census the population of the borough was 7,106.” This means that the meager 7,106 Borough residents are effectively paying with their tax dollars for all the activities (parades, Christmas tree lighting, beautifully decorated central… Read more »
Continuing to add to Gettysburg borough population comes at such a cost to traffic and infrastructure that it outweighs the tax benefit. Whether you like it or not, Gettysburg cannot support any additional traffic. 40,500 vehicles pass through Lincoln Square on average every single day. The Station Project developer’s initial estimate is that there would be 1,756 daily trips from the project but that is not based on actual numbers. There will be a traffic study as part of the planning process. The development happening right now 2 miles east of Lincoln Square will soon make Route 30 much more… Read more »
Increasing housing options that require a good or very good credit score with rental prices that start at more than what’s earned working 40 hours a week at minimum wage with 20 hour of OT… what is that going to accomplish? Besides having higher priced rentals now pushing up the $1050 already high average price of a one bedroom apartment in Gettysburg . The consequence of that is more rental units being rented without reporting from landlords or tenants. Month-to-month leases with extremely high security deposits in return for not checking credit. There are always people who are going to… Read more »