Gettysburg battlefield relisted as endangered

HARRISBURG - Despite multimillion-dollar efforts to restore its Civil War landscape, Gettysburg battlefield has again been designated an endangered landmark.

The Civil War Preservation Trust placed the battlefield on its top-10 endangered list - for the fourth time in nine years - because of concern over encroachment on two sides: tourism-related development to the east near the new visitor center, and the uncertain fate of a 130-acre, bankrupt country club on the west.

Both areas were scenes of notable clashes during the 1863 battle but are not protected from development.

"It's the ultimate example of a Civil War battlefield," said Mary Koik, spokeswoman for the trust, the nation's largest nonprofit group dedicated to battlefield preservation. "People assume it would be protected, but it isn't."

The opening of the Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center last year has given rise to concerns about increased development along Baltimore Pike, which was the major supply line for Union troops during the three-day battle.

A hotel is being built outside the park but near the famed national cemetery where President Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address.

Katie Lawhon, a spokeswoman for the Gettysburg National Military Park, said that there was concern about the impact to the park, but that the property had been grandfathered under old zoning laws so there was nothing that could be done to stop the development.

The park has spent millions erasing contemporary construction in recent years. Gone are a Ford dealership and a motel that obscured the battlefield.

Demolition is under way at the old Visitors Center, and plans call for the removal of the 1961 Cyclorama building, but modern architectural preservationists have sued in federal court to try to save it.

On the western edge of the battlefield, inside the park, is the former Gettysburg Country Club, which went bankrupt in 2008.

Koik said that the trust was interested in helping acquire the property, but that the $2.2 million price was too high. Lawhon said the park would like to negotiate an easement on the country club to prohibit large-scale development.

She said the park's inclusion on the endangered list underscored that 18 percent of the 6,000-acre battlefield was unprotected.

"It's either privately owned or there is no easement on it. Therefore, there is no protection for the historic resources," Lawhon said.

Lawhon hopes an infusion of federal money will help encourage landowners to sell their property or the development rights. As part of the recently approved budget, the park will receive funds ($2.2 million) for land acquisition for the first time since 2001.