The Franklin County Coalition Applies for Board Membership in The Greater Chambersburg 2000 Partnership, Inc. to Assist With Review of Chambersburg Historic Sites

CONTACT:
Thomas Linzey, Esq.
709-0457

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Chambersburg (3/10) - The Franklin County Coalition applied today for membership in the Greater Chambersburg 2000 Partnership, Inc. to assist the Partnership with a Historic Review of Chambersburg sites. The Coalition, founded in 1998, is composed of twelve (12) nonprofit organizations and over thirty locally owned businesses across Franklin County.

The application for Board Membership by the Coalition was made in response to recent discussions of the Partnership concerning the need for a Historic Review of sites within the Chambersburg area. The Board of the Partnership, meeting on February 28th, discussed the option of launching an effort to identify significant historical sites within the Chambersburg area. Franklin County Commissioner G. Warren Elliott, a voting member of the Board, suggested that the Partnership "embark on a historic preservation plan for downtown." One of the organizational members of the Coalition - Kittochtinny Historical Society - is a recognized regional expert on historic preservation issues. Other organizational and business members of the Coalition have expressed interest in assisting the Partnership and other local governmental entities with preserving the rich historical legacy of Chambersburg.

Thomas Linzey, legal advisor for the Coalition, explained that "the Coalition applauds the tentative first steps of the Partnership towards mapping out historical sites in the Chambersburg area. While a comprehensive listing of sites will take years to formulate, the Coalition is ready and willing to assist the Partnership's efforts towards protecting and permanently preserving significant historical sites."

Linzey declared that "if the Partnership truly wants to move in a direction to ensure that downtown redevelopment does not threaten the rich historical legacy of Chambersburg, the Coalition stands willing and able to assist in those efforts."

Organizational members of the Franklin County Coalition include the Conochocheague Chapter of the Audubon Society, the Fair Tax Coalition, the Unity Coalition, the Greene/Guilford Environmental Association, and the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund.