f
A§ Wednesday, April .18, 2012
Battle
FROM PAGE A1
included within the boundaries
of either the Antietam National
Battlefield or Harpers Ferry Na-
tional Historical Park, and last
week published all 131 com-
ments received in a summary re-
port on its website.
The comments were received
in part during two public meet-
ings held in Harpers Ferry and
Shepherdstown in February, with
other comments posted on the
service's Planning, Environment
and Public Comment website.
The study will last for two
years, and Congress could decide
to include the site in the park sys-
tem if the Secretary of the Interior
receives such a recommendation
from the park service. An ear-
lier study conducted by the Na-
tional Historical Landmarks Pro-
gram concluded the site was not
historically significant enough
to warrant inclusion in the na-
tional park system. Legislation
approved by Congress under the
leadership of West Virginia Sen.
Robert Byrd in 2009 authorized
the park service to give the site a
second look.
One unusual feature of the
scoping period was the request
by the park service for feedback
on what the boundaries of the
proposed battlefield park might
be, said David Hayes, regional
planner and transportation liaison
for the National Park Service.
"Typically what happens is
when we're tasked with doing a
resource study Congress gives
us the boundaries," Hayes said.
"That didn't make it to the final
legislation. That's unusual. Now
we have to figure out what kind
of boundary we're going to work
in."
Hayes said between 10 to 15
different boundaries have been
identified by the public, with
a number of commenters ask-
ing the park service to consider
preserving and interpreting more
than the two-day encounter be-
tween Lee and McClellan.
Some land -- more than 265
acres as of 2010 -- has already
been set aside into easements
by property owners and late last
year, the Jefferson County His-
toric Landmarks Commission
completed the purchase of the
18-acre Boteler Cement Mill site,
thanks in part to a $25,000 eco-.
nomic development grant from
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, which
was paired with two grants from
the state Department of Trans-
portation along with donations
gathered from the Shepherd-
stown Battlefield Protection As-
sociation and other groups for a
total purchase price of $375,000.
A 2010 Report on the Na-
tion's Civil War Battlefields des-
ignates 2,792 acres as part of the
Shepherdstown's battlefield's
study area with a little more than
2,502 acres eligible for inclusion
as part of a potential National
Register boundary area. As part
of a report on the conditions of
Civil War sites, the American
Battlefield Protection Program
f
Comments received
far the Shepherdstown
Battlefield Special
Resource Study can be
viewed on the National
Park Service's website
at parkplanning,nps,
govidocument,cfm ?par
kiD=530&projectlD=368
34&documentlD=46757.
includes Shepherd town as a
third-tier battlefield worthy of
preservation.
According to the report;
Shepherdstown is designated
one of among ttae most intact
battlefield areas, with about
2,500 of the site's nearly 2,800
acres considered available for
inclusion on the National Reg-
ister•
For supporters of the battle-
field site, one parcel -- the Os-
born Farm -- is regarded as a
prime piece of real estate for
preservation, and the Shepherd-
stown Battlefield Protection
Association, which was formed
in 2005, has embarked upon a
proti'acted seven-year campaign
against both the county and
Maryland developer Faraway
Farms LLC as part of an effort
to scuttle a proposed residential
development on the land around
the historic homestead, which
historians note was the scene
of some fighting. The project
would result in about 152 sin-
gle-family houses built on 122
acres along Trough Road about
a mile south of the river.
Last year; .the battlefield
group filed suit against the
county planning cOmmission
to reverse a settlement between
the county and the developer
that would have effectively re-
set the clock on the project; the
planning commission would re-
issue a three-year conditional
NeWS
use permit for the project and
allow a completed impact state-
ment to serve as a concept plan,
while the developer would pro-
ceed with the plan under the
county's new subdivision regu-
lations.
Attorney Linda Gutsell, who
represents the battlefield asso-
ciation, said the planning com-
mission committed an Open
Meetings violation in agreeing
to the settlement. The case is
expected to be heard in Jeffer-
son County Circuit Court on
May 7.
In another move, an effort
by the battlefield group to stop
23rd Circuit Judge David Sand-
ers from approving the county's
settlement with the developer
was rejected by the state Su-
preme Court Of Appeals earlier
this year.
According to the recently
released summary report, a
frequent response from those
who submitted comments was
to have the battle interpreted in
Maryland, at the Ferry Hill site,
which is already under park
service management as part of
the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
National Historical Park. Oth-
ers who responded noted the
difficulty in getting to the site
because of both traffic and the
terrain, which is wooded and
hilly with steep cliffs overlook-
ing the river about a half-mile
past the cement mill ruins.
Other commenters were
skeptical of plans to interpret
the site, while others disagreed
with efforts to expand the study
site into the corporate limits of
Shepherdstown.
Including the battlefield into
the park system isn't the only
option being considered, Hayes
said. Other options include rec-"
ommending the site be made into
a state park or working to se-
cure the preservation of the land
through private easements.
Gutsell said West Virginia
stands to benefit by preserving
land associated with the three-
battle Antietam campaign.
"We're the 0nly state that
hasn't preserved our part of it,"
Gutsell said, adding Washington
County, Md., captures between
$15 to $18 million in heritage
tourism dollars. "Hundreds of
people would come to West Vir-
ginia if they had a reason. It's a
forgotten part of history."
The park service is expected
to begin preparing a draft study
this spring, which will be com-
plete by early 2013.
"By that point, we'll have
a boundary and we'll have de-
. cided if there is any national
significance," Hayes said.
pirit of JEFFERSON'and FARMER'S ADVOCATE
ROBERT SNYDER
The ruins of the Boteler Cement Mill were purchased by the Jefferson County 1!
Landmarks Commission last year..The 18-acre parcel, which sits along the il
Potomac River, coul~l be incorporated into a proposed national battlefield site
if the National Park Service recommends it for inclusion into either Antietam
National Battlefield or Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.
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