Developer: Casino will respect Gettysburg’s history
GETTYSBURG The developer of a proposed casino in Gettysburg today called the historic community "the last untapped gaming marketplace" in Pennsylvania, and contended that his project would create jobs and revitalize the area while respecting its rich history and tradition.
GETTYSBURG – The developer of a proposed casino in Gettysburg today called the historic community "the last untapped gaming marketplace" in Pennsylvania, and contended that his project would create jobs and revitalize the area while respecting its rich history and tradition.
David LeVan, the Adams County resident proposing the casino, told state gaming board officials at a packed hearing that his $75 million Mason-Dixon Resort & Casino project would have a "tremendous economic development" impact on the county and would not affect Gettysburg National Military Park, one of the nation's first "hallowed" grounds.
He also said that many other towns and communities – including Philadelphia, Valley Forge, and Deadwood, S.D. - have shown that gambling and "heritage tourism" can successfully coexist.
"This can be done right," LeVan said. "This will be done well."
LeVan is proposing to put slot machines and table games in a foundering conference center and hotel on Emmitsburg Road, a half-mile from the boundary of Gettysburg National Military Park and two miles from the Mason-Dixon Line.
LeVan - who lives across the street from the park's visitors center and has personally invested $4 million in the Gettysburg battlefield and other local preservation projects - failed in his first attempt in 2005 to win a license for a larger casino at a different site farther from the battlefield.
Now LeVan and other investors are vying with three other bidders seeking the last of two "resort" licenses. (The first was awarded to the planned casino at the Valley Forge Convention Center).
A resort license allows only 600 slot machines, compared with 3,000 at other locations, and 50 table games.
The seven-member Gaming Control Board will make its decision by the end of the year. But the proposed casino has deeply divided the community between those who believe it will be an economic boon and those consider it a shameful slap to the sacrifices of Civil War soldiers who shaped the future of a nation.
More than 400 people have registered to speak at today's hearing, which is expected to spill into Wednesday.
The group No Casino Gettysburg presented a film that featured local residents, authors, actors and other who urged members of the board to reject the proposal.
No one who appeared in the film was paid to do so, said member Susan Starr Paddock.