Casino investors announce new partnership, NCG asks LeVan to reconsider project.NCG cites petition of 140 signatures. Golf course, ski resort, sign-on as casino supporters.
The proposed Mason Dixon Resort & Casino in Cumberland Township formed new community partnerships Tuesday, while the group that opposes the gaming plan encouraged investors to “reconsider” the project.
No Casino Gettysburg Chairwoman Susan Star Paddock issued a press release, asking Gettysburg businessman and casino applicant David LeVan to refrain from filing a gaming application by the state’s mandated April 7 deadline.
Paddock claims to have garnered signatures from “140 Adams County residents” that oppose the casino, requesting LeVan — in a letter — to display “civic responsibility” and set aside his gaming proposal. LeVan has partnered with former state lawmaker Joseph Lashinger in an effort to convert the Cumberland Township-based Eisenhower Inn along Business 15, south of Gettysburg, into an exclusive slots resort.
LeVan announced a partnership Tuesday, with The Links at Gettysburg golf course and Ski Liberty Mountain Resort, in what’s dubbed the “Mason Dixon Pass” program, aimed to promote area tourism opportunities.
But Paddock noted the “community divisiveness” that LeVan’s plan has produced, since his Eisenhower Inn project surfaced in mid-November.
According to Paddock, her letter asks LeVan to “please weigh the unintended consequences of reigniting this controversial issue, and the harm that will come to our community if you proceed with your proposal.”
LeVan’s project is opposed by preservation groups, such as the Civil War Preservation Trust, which formed a coalition in January with the National Parks Conservation Association, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Preservation Pennsylvania in opposing the project.
“Locating and marketing a gambling facility at Gettysburg unavoidably conflicts with the essential meaning of this place in American history,” James Lighthizer, president of the Civil War Preservation Trust, said previously.
However, a recent survey by nationally-recognized pollster Dr. G. Terry Madonna revealed that, out of 600 Adams County residents polled, more than 60 percent support LeVan’s project.
Pa. Governor Edward G. Rendell has stated that he finds the Mason Dixon project “less objectionable” than LeVan’s 2005-06 proposal, which failed in Straban Township because of “overwhelming” opposition and revenue-generating issues. Rendell has noted that the Eisenhower Inn project is located closer to Maryland and farther away from the historic Civil War town than the Crossroads project, proposed at the intersection of Routes 15 & 30, east of Gettysburg. Also, Gettysburg Battlefield Supt. Bob Kirby has said that the project is not expected to have an impact on the park’s resources, even though the hotel is located just one half-mile from the park’s boundaries.
LeVan and Lashinger have formed community partnerships in the last week, most recently with The Links at Gettysburg golf course and Ski Liberty Mountain Resort in Carroll Valley. Investors unveiled the “Mason Dixon Pass” program Tuesday, which aims to “actively promote other area tourist destinations to guests of the resort,” according to spokesman David La Torre. The program’s “inaugural members” are Ski Liberty Mountain Resort and The Links at Gettysburg.
One week ago, Mason Dixon Resort teamed with Gettysburg Tours Inc. and President Kenneth J. Rohrbaugh to provide hotel and casino guests tours of the 6,000-acre battlefield. LeVan and La Torre have called Gettysburg Tours Inc. “one of the premier heritage tourism agencies” in the country.
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