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.

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-