The Fort Roberdeau Association has recently acquired additional land which surrounds the fort in Sinking Valley.
\nNow the question becomes what to do with it. Efforts toward that end are being made at a county level with the involvement of the Blair County Planning Commission and a thumbs up from the Blair County Commissioners toward a long range plan for the site.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had a substantial increase in acreage at the Fort,\u201d said Commissioner John Eichelberger. \u201cWe have opportunities there.\u201d
\nThose opportunities include a \u201cfocus on an ag classroom,\u201d according to Eichelberger along with the possibility of farm demonstrations.
\nThe Revolutionary War historic site was reconstructed nearly 30 years ago as part of the nation\u2019s 200th birthday celebration.
\nCounty assistant planner Lee Slusser explained an opportunity for the county to receive state funding for the Fort when he addressed the commissioners at their Tuesday meeting.
\n\u201cThe DCNR (Department of Conservation and Natural Resources) likes to see a long range plan before giving funding,\u201d said Slusser. \u201cThey want to know what the optimal use of the land is. More than even a land analysis it will be based on heavy public input.\u201d
\n He said the plan would be based on \u201cwhat the users of the Fort want-the people of Sinking Valley and the Tyrone area, who are most of the Fort\u2019s users.\u201d
\nSome of the specifics of the long- range plan would include identifying natural trails along with areas where conventional farming practices could be implemented for educational purposes, as well as identifying conservation and preservation areas and identifying new facilities for visitor education.
\n\u201cWe got our wish list,\u201d said Slusser. \u201c(Now), let\u2019s prioritize it and see how much we can actually afford.\u201d
\nSlusser said the next steps for developing the plan include a study committee and public meetings including meeting with Tyrone Township supervisors.
\n\u201cThese are the first-time efforts to develop a long range plan for the Fort,\u201d said Commissioner Barry Wright. \u201cWe as commissioners look forward to endorsing the plan.
\n\u201cTwenty-thousand dollars is being sought from the Department of Conservation and Natural resources,\u201d said Wright. \u201cWe decided to agree to allow them (the planning commission) to seek (the funding from DCNR).\u201d
\n\u201cThe Fort will need to come up with an additional $5,000 towards the long-range plan,\u201d explained Wright. \u201cWith DCNR, it\u2019s expected they will come through with this $20,000. So, this can all be part of a Greenways study plan.\u201d
\nThe county planning commission has been working on a Greenways plan that is expected to be incorporated into a state plan. Counties were directed to prepare such a plan two years ago by the state. The plan involves the management of land use based on a number of criteria including recreation, protection of open spaces and goals for community revitalization.
\n\u201cThe planning commission will look to name a consultant for this long-range plan, not the association,\u201d said Wright.
\nCommission Donna Gority had made the point at the commissioner\u2019s meeting, according to Wright. She also endorsed the plan.
\nThe association had previously been turned down for a DCNR grant and were told the reason was the association did not own the fort. Instead, it manages it, while the fort is owned by the county.
\nHowever, by including the fort\u2019s plan as part of the Greenways plan, the county learned DCNR would most likely make the funds available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Fort Roberdeau Association has recently acquired additional land which surrounds the fort in Sinking Valley. Now the question becomes what to do with it. Efforts toward that end are being made at a county level with the involvement of the Blair County Planning Commission and a thumbs up from the Blair County Commissioners toward […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44104\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}