national park service
RELEASE UPON RECEIPT CONTACT: KATIE LAWHON
717-334-1124 x452
LETTER OF INTENT SIGNED FOR GETTYSBURG MUSEUM
Gettysburg, PA, July 20, 1998 – The National Park Service (NPS)
announced today that it has signed a letter of intent with a non-profit
foundation to build a new Visitor Center and Museum for Gettysburg National
Military Park. The letter of intent fulfills a requirement specified
in the original Request for Proposals issued by the NPS.
The Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum Foundation has agreed
to the terms of the letter of intent which sets forth the general responsibilities
of the government and the Foundation in a public/private partnership to
design, fund, build, and operate the new facility.
Last year, the NPS undertook a process to consider a public/private
partnership to address the serious preservation problems that exist at
Gettysburg National Military Park. The NPS selected the proposal
submitted by the team headed by Kinsley Equities, a Pennsylvania partnership,
to begin to negotiate a plan for the Museum. The Gettysburg National
Battlefield Museum Foundation was formed to complete the negotiation process.
The letter of intent sets forth the objectives of the project
and its development and management ground rules. Among other
matters, the letter of intent states that the proposed Visitor Center and
Museum will be donated to the NPS within twenty years and that the Foundation’s
activities are to be subject to NPS review and approval. Further,
the letter of intent makes clear that the current Visitor Center and Museum
proposal is subject to further revision through the NPS public planning
process. If the planning process does not result in an acceptable
proposal, the project will not go forward.
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Gettysburg National Military Park
97 Taneytown Road, Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania 17325
ADD ONE: MUSEUM
“The letter of intent is a framework that sets up appropriate
safeguards to ensure that this important partnership would benefit the
long-term preservation of priceless resources at Gettysburg National Military
Park,” said park Superintendent John Latschar. “We continue to encourage
public involvement as we move through these steps in the process.”
The Visitor Center and Museum proposal will be further evaluated
in a draft General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement, scheduled
to be released for public comment next month. No binding agreement
with the Foundation will be entered into until after the successful completion
of this process.
-NPS