Gettysburg’s Borough Manager, Charles Gable, has continually put forth that tall buildings must be built in Gettysburg, starting with the Station Project, to alleviate residents’ property tax burden. Mr. Gable further suggests that Gettysburg has the highest taxes in Adams County and that they cannot be raised further. This comparison with the rest of (very rural) Adams County, while accurate, is misleading. The fact is that with an effective total tax rate of 1.78% of home market value, Gettysburg is below PA’s statewide local tax median. Looking at specific property tax rates in other nearby municipalities, Gettysburg’s rate is comparable to that of Carlisle and Lancaster and appears to be lower than that of Hanover.
The Borough Manager has written that the increased revenue from the Station Project would be around $259,000 per year. For a typical home valued on the current market at $320,000 (assessment value $213,000), this $259,000 in additional revenue would save the Borough homeowner an upper limit of about $143 in property tax each year, assuming, incredulously, that the project incurs zero extra costs to the Borough. Residents must ask themselves: Is it worth sacrificing Gettysburg’s historic character and tourist appeal for this limited and questionable amount?
One cannot build the equivalent of a subdivision in downtown Gettysburg without incurring additional infrastructure costs such as road (and bike path) maintenance, costs due to increased traffic, and additional fire and EMS needs. An increase in Borough staffing such as additional police would immediately wipe out the tax revenue from the development. Further, any loss in tourism as a result of this overly-tall, character-altering development could easily offset potential revenue increases to the overall Borough economy.
It can be debated why Gettysburg urgently needs to supplement its budget to begin with, when it has been running surpluses for all but one of the past 9 years, and stands to complete debt payments in 2029 of over $600,000 per year on a previous bond issue. These are questions that cannot be answered without a thorough cost/benefit analysis of the Station Project together with future Borough budget projections, which, even amidst increasing calls for their production, have never been undertaken by Borough management. Citizens deserve to have these analyses before our town is irrevocably altered.
The lack of clearly demonstrated financial necessity, the possibility of minimal fiscal benefit, and the projected negative impact on Gettysburg’s economic engine of heritage tourism, make the Station Project and other tall buildings a risk not worth taking. The Save Historic Gettysburg advocates for buildings no taller than 48′ throughout the Borough, consistent with long-term historical standards.
The developer of the Station Project has submitted a Land Development Plan which is undergoing a lengthy and detailed review by the Planning Commission and other Borough authorities.
An earlier version of these comments was delivered by Rich Barvainis during public comment at the October 2025 Gettysburg Planning Commission meeting