Sep 15, 2002 By Paul Sunyak 4 min read

Fayette County Commissioner Ronald M. Nehls said he’s willing to donate a small spur of land that touches the Fort Necessity National Battlefield site to the National Park Service if it paves the way for a plan to develop the Great Meadows Amphitheatre site. Only a small portion of the 122-acre amphitheater property bound by Act 70 deed restrictions abuts Fort Necessity property, said Nehls. He is willing to cede that section to the federal government to placate opposition led by Fort Necessity Park superintendent Joanne Hanley.

Nehls said that the status of the “little sliver” of land should not hold up the ambitious development plan by Fayette Films LLC, the county’s only suitor for the long-dormant amphitheater site. Nehls said that Fayette Films president Jason Thomas of Wyoming told him that Hanley voiced concern about that sliver in his only conversation with her.

“I’d be willing to donate that (to them) if it’s legal,” said Nehls. “Jason Thomas has indicated to me that … the only and only time he talked to (Hanley), there is just a little sliver of land, a little tip of land, that is a part of this (and) does go over and touch a part of the land that Fort Necessity owns.”

According to maps from the Fayette County Tax Assessment Office, a spur of the county-owned amphitheater property touches the 702-acre battlefield site owned by U.S. Department of the Interior.

Tax records also show that the federal government owns a separate 126-acre tract that serves as a natural buffer along most of the border between the amphitheater and the battlefield. Nehls said most of that buffer parcel consists of woods.

Tax records show that the government-owned buffer parcel includes a natural gas lease to Petroleum Development Corp. of Bridgeport, W.Va., which means that a gas well likely operates on the site. Chief Assessor James A. Hercik, CPE, said that tax records also indicate the presence of a house on the federal government’s 126-acre buffer property.

Hanley said she’s sticking to her previously stated position that the National Park Service would not publicly discuss its concerns, preferring instead to air them in a face-to-face meeting with the commissioners scheduled for Sept. 23 in Harrisburg.

Officials from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which must approve the lifting of the deed restrictions before the matter is sent for legislative approval, will also attend that meeting.

“I’ve stated that I’m not going to be discussing the details of the Park Service response to the commissioners in the press,” said Hanley. “Out of respect to the commissioners, any response to their proposals will be discussed with them, not in the press.”

When the concerns of both parties are aired in the upcoming meeting, Hanley said, “I am sure we will come to a mutually agreeable solution.”

Nehls, who has stated that time is of the essence regarding the Fayette Films proposal, said that it’s difficult for the commissioners to negotiate when Hanley won’t provide a starting point by stating her position.

Nehls said it’s a “no-brainer” to give the Park Service the sliver of land if that’s the hang up, but it’s frustrating to have such open-ended opposition at this point.

“So many times, Joanne Hanley has refused to say exactly what it is that they want. And it’s difficult to begin negotiations on that point,” said Nehls. “How are we supposed to negotiate (when we don’t know what they want)?”

Furthermore, Nehls said he wouldn’t attend the Harrisburg meeting unless Fayette Films and members of the business community who support the project are also invited. “You just can’t have one side of the table represented,” said Nehls.

Hanley said that she wasn’t able to comment on the relative position of Fort Necessity’s land holdings unless she had the maps in front of her. But she said that in general, the entire eastern boundary of the amphitheater property runs adjacent to federal property.

The 6.1-acre site on which the existing amphitheater sits is not subject to the state’s Act 70 deed restrictions that currently limit the use of the larger surrounding parcel to conservation, recreation and preservation. In essence, the county owns both parcels but has its hands tied by the state concerning uses for the larger tract.

In addition to the 702- and 126-acre parcels previously mentioned, tax records show the federal government also owns a 228-acre tract in the area. The three parcels combined give the Interior Department 956 acres of land surrounding Fort Necessity.