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, housing, etc., and what it means in terms of decision-making. Citizens like Shelley Knouse asked early on for more information, but nothing was provided in response. So she researched it herself. The Rezoning did not start out being a “housing driven” effort. Maybe information was presented in the closed task force meetings that turned the emphasis to housing, but we don’t know what it was. Personally, I have been trying to stand up for the Moderate Density Residential R-2 zone and against all the changes proposed for it. This is a zone that has traditionally provided a wide range of housing types and protected residential neighborhoods, yet, there are currently non-residential uses being added through misguided thinking. They will only compete with those looking for a place to live.
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 level of need in front of many agencies around the entire state and it gets their data in there. Are they chronically experiencing homelessness? What programs have they been through? Has there been any intervention in helping learn or change behaviors to be able to sustain a home?
Unbiased uniform intake data reports the only thing right now that can be done quickly to get a fairly Accurate and quick assessment of the true state of need in outlet communities.
Applications for housing vouchers have been shut down since summer. The small bit of funding south Central community actions was able to pull has been gone through and depleted since late summer. Just the fact that funding is exhausted before the years even half over coupled with quick pulls of eviction Court hearings taking place,
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 a families bills current to keep them from becoming homeless- anyone who has attempted to apply for section 8 or the voucher program. It’s called now in the last 10 years and is still on the waiting list or just has given up being on the waiting list can tell you the housing department here in Adams County has only so many vouchers that they take care of, the rents associated with these vouchers have significantly increased over the years and honestly, I don’t see the office of housing doing anything but over seeing the vouchers. They are not involved in the the other rental assistance grant funding. They a choosing to not work any other avenues to provide more funds and different benefits to our community As it is organized now, the localHUD office should branch out and apply for anything and everything available to their type of organization. Any funding awarded to the applicants also includes moneys to cover operating costs. The Adam’s hud office requires a tremendous amount of application paperwork and a long time in screening voucher applications…. applications that they know more than likely are not going to see the top of that waiting list anytime soon . These applications and all of the time and effort on both parties part put into getting the information together and screening now gets put off to the side and is not usable for any other health and human services agency or any agency for that matter. A coc organization Has standardized intake procedures and forms so that other agencies within the continuum all throughout the state are able to pull documents from prior intake sessions from anywhere. This gives families and social care workers so many more opportunities and options in their search for help .. To qualify to apply for the distribution of grants to be used as emergency rental assistance There are a few categories that an organization can fall into Most prevalent and beneficial being a COC- again our housing department in Adams County is not a a coc agency. It is also not a recognized and authorized rental and mortgage counseling or teaching agency either- these two things that the housing department is NOT (it is NOT a coc or a pha housing sustainability program -this choice is chosen every single year to be simply a housing voucher extension of our federal government housing Authority- and absolutely nothing more when reconsideration for approval of funding for section 8 vouchers comes back around)
Adam’s county’s local agencies and social ‘works’ volunteers, and the Adam’s economic development corporation’s local and state liaisons/case workers make this choice. A choice- that shows the long extension into which the boro, county and region the Gettysburg, local governments arm is- most of these agencies are all people within the government or have been within a government or council capacity sitting on boards of organizations, that are really extensions of local planning boards for tourism and committees with the phrase ‘development’ at the end and / or ‘comprehensive planning ‘ at the beginning : it doesn’t help these organizations are who are looking not at funding to help bring housing sustainability to Adams County residence’s, but at community block grants they can use to makes the streets prettier for tourists.
A coc organization or agency is required to consolidate and centralize during the intake process. Reporting details from intake with families in need do not become numbers only able to be quoted by a certain committee when it’s beneficial for them. Services aren’t not suggested or attempted to be gotten because it’s outside of their building.
Coc organizations serve important purposes: centrally focused case management, greater access to being able to use the funds and services as a member of the community, database management that will collect important data that very quickly will begin to form an undeniable statement of the housing situation in Adams County, and to bring services together for everyone and everything. everything not only within the local community but within the region.
since Adams County does not have one COC it’s a very very big region we are part of. A COC agency also is able to distribute funding from other agencies across the state who have either been awarded federal grant money to be able to help communities by utilizing a COC intake centralized approach. People aren’t stepping over themselves from different buildings, trying to help but not being able to come together and get anything substantial accomplished. One file. One computer system. One state recognized family need client file. Operating administration cost as well as costs to get an implement. The technology as well as proper training is all available for payment through different grant funds available. state funded, centralized data collection, and all program and training requirements paid for?
Our local housing agency also cannot apply for an administer emergency vouchers. There are various categories, considered emergency and specific grant funding for when these come up a lot of times emergency vouchers can take the place out rapid housing funding, and rapid housing funding for a whole Nother category of people in need.
A coc organization can apply for and distribute the emergency and special situation vouchers.
Without any centralized or any reporting on homelessness, instances of being close to homelessness, shelter counts. Shelter waitlist counts and eviction data collection from the magisterial courts, we don’t have any idea what kind of situation our housing is in.
I can tell you the programs are out there. The funding is abundant Adams County needs to stop being complacent with what they’ve always done in applying for funding, grants, and utilize the massive amount of guidance and information online for putting together a local COC organization.
The fact that our community doesn’t have this yet is only keeping all of the other COC organizations and counties who have been involved in building organizations, such as this for well over a decade from being able to truly achieve centralized statewide care for individuals
I can tell you my one bedroom apartment in town cost more than an apartment in Brooklyn and a full-time job. Doesnt even come close to covering the rent for a month for me and my son.
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, intelligent, person of integrity get hold of these plans and make better choices and decisions for our town.
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.
All of us deserves a chance to attain Home Ownership or affordable rental housing. I’d like to hear from these voices and not just this who want to gentrify Gettysburg. I know everyone isn’t wealthy who opposes Gettysburg Station, but too often lower income voices go unheard in this debate.
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 is happening now. So you decry “speculating” that it’s going to happen and then speculate that it probably won’t when, in fact, it already is.
There are no “descriptors” missing from Shelley’s analysis. And it IS about raw housing data because that’s what’s needed to actually plan for the future. If there aren’t enough people to occupy the available units in Gettysburg, then what? Ignoring the data to talk social policy is not the answer for Gettysburg.
And one last point: the phrase “all of us deserve” is tossed around a lot these days for many things so I will use it too. All of us who live here and love and honor Gettysburg for its history and how it looks today don’t want to see it destroyed by over development, particularly by housing we don’t need to satisfy some politician’s idea of progress.
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% of the community who rents housing.
The only way to get Unfiltered raw numberswould be to pull a data set from the local Assistance office database. You could at least get more accurate data of renting or owning, income, length of time at current address, whether or not the applicant is applying for emergency relief, the amount of their housing payment a month, and how many school-age children are within that one case.
I didn’t understand how confounded the process of trying to get help in emergency situations was until I’ve had to navigate it myself. It seems to be purposely set up to be disenchanting and repetitive with each agency you have to go apply to. By the time you get two ‘nos’ after you’ve put together the same packet of information in a different form for another attempt for help – most people just stop there fully realizing there’s no help comming.
But Main Street Gettysburg can apply for a community block grant that funds can be used for housing assistance within the community and emergency relief or planting trees to make the sidewalks look pretty or to fund the purchase and rehabilitation of an in town visitor center … I’m not really sure how one agenda even compares with the other- and honestly, I’m done trying to figure it out.
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 the lap of boro taxpayers. Massive road improvements on taxpayers means any tax revenue generated could be eaten up, in essence, taxpayers in the boro would be subsiding the profits of a developer. Any one know if a traffic impact study has been completed yet? Any project of this size should have a traffic impact study done.
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 prior to a Monday evening meeting.
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 see any difference? But all that was paid for partially because of traffic studies.
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 enough population density. In order to maintain the residential single family status of a couple of areas in the Borough, everyone else is being shoehorned into a few blocks in each direction. Population density that is too high has been shown to create all kinds of problems, including noise, pollution, fires, waste,
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 square, road maintenance, etc.) that are drawing the other 13,614 residents in the adjacent regions to live in the postal zone of Gettysburg.
I state this with certainty because we were formerly residents of the Gettysburg Borough from 2013 until 2024. At that time, we moved to Cumberland Township only two miles from our former Borough residence. Among other reasons, we realized that as Borough residents, we were subject to taxes and fees much higher than surrounding areas. We had to pay the ridiculous “water tax” of $100 annually; now, living only two miles away, we don’t. We had to pay the highest regional taxes imposed on the Gettysburg Borough residents; now we don’t. We still get to enjoy all the amenities that the Borough offers without the taxes and fees imposed on the Borough residents. With the exception of no longer being within walking distance of the Borough square, we feel as though we gained more than we lost by moving out of the Borough confines.
This does not even take into account the massive amounts of tourists who visit Gettysburg, further stressing the local infrastructure and placing all the financial burden on the local Gettysburg residents. I find it ridiculous that Gettysburg is not allowed to impose a local option tax so tourists can help offset the financial burden imposed on the local population.
Many of us came to Pennsylvania to escape the high taxes of neighboring states such as Maryland, New Jersey and New York. We came because we were also drawn to the beauty and history of this area. I can testify that we knew nothing about “school taxes” (Maryland pays for the schools through state funds) nor did we realize that living in the heart of Gettysburg comes with a high price. For those who don’t live in a historic 1863 house, why not move just north/south/east/west of the Borough and enjoy all the Borough amenities without the high Borough taxes?
So, for the sake of all those currently living in the Borough, I fully support any effort to increase the local population and lessen taxes (or at least halt their inexorable rise), for the overly tax burdened citizens who already own homes in the Gettysburg Borough.
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 of a nightmare than it already is. And there are townhouses planned on East Water Street. Anyone trying to get around the borough now from Fourth and Stratton know that packing all this housing downtown is a recipe for disaster. If the tax burdened citizens don’t want to pay the borough taxes, then the solution is simple: don’t live there. For those of us who do, we don’t want to destroy the historic integrity we have so that more people can live here. It is a finite resource. Whether you like it or not. Tourism is our economic engine. Not housing. And when tourists won’t come here or return here because of the traffic gridlock, there won’t be any need for housing.
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 take advantage of situations. People will exploit the higher priced brand new housing complex with touristy shops on the bottom level. And at the end of the day, it’s going to be the people who already are struggling and on the verge of a housing crisis every month hurt. . It’s going to be the residence of the town who paid their taxes and Support paying their taxes for the amenities that you mentioned who will pick up the loss local tax revenue due to rental units not being reported as business income.
I’m not sure if people realize that when they walk from the Square east to the Sunoco every single building every single door on each side of the road is between four and 12 rental units. A couple of them have actually a few more. The buildings that look like a really nice two floor house have four of six apartments each one. This is the same for most of the streets radiating out from the square.