DELAYED MASTER PLAN FOR MARTIN VAN BUREN


Mike McCagg
cSCOOP News

04-12-11 - A long overdue master plan for the Martin Van Buren Historic Site is still on the drawing boards, but has been delayed by the federal budget distress.

The first-ever general management plan for the three-decade-old historic site – the site known as Lindenwald that was home of the eighth president of the United States - was expected to be made public in late 2010, but now is on hold until later this year – at the earliest.

Site Superintendent Daniel Dattilio said funding for the plan is still in place, but cut backs among planners and agency personnel at the national level has delayed the work.

“The number of planners has been reduced. The project manager assigned to this project was reassigned last year and pushed our timeframe back,” said Dattilio.

The end result in the delay is that the plan will not likely be ready for approval by the National Park Service until 2012.
The plan – long overdue based on the historic of other National Historic Sites – will propose three alternatives to the future of the historic site, but more importantly it will make the home of the country’s eighth president eligible for federal funds to construct permanent structures on the historic site.

Dattilio said none of the aspects of the project have been altered by the delay. Still on the table are three options for the future of the historic site:

1) No action.

2) An option called “Civic Discourse: Martin Van Buren the Politician.” This option calls for public study, research and symposiums on the eighth president and would require construction of a facility at historic site, which is known as Lindenwald, that would provide venues for debates and the symposiums. Additionally, there would be a limited amount of restoration of the landscape.

3) The third option is called “In the Footsteps of Martin Van Buren” which would place an emphasis on the president as a farmer. This option calls for the restoration of the farm to its appearance in the 1850s, when Van Buren was cultivating the land. “This would include restoration of the turf, garden, a couple of demonstration farm areas, removal of the north woods and replacing them with an orchard, perhaps pears,” said Dattilio. This option would also call for the creation of permanent structures for a visitor’s center.

These alternatives are meant to set the development path for the historic site and its emphasis for the next 15-20 years, he said.

The three options will be released for public comment later this year, which will include public meetings and discussions. That will be followed by the National Park Service developing a preferred alternative.

A final management plan, Dattilio said, will likely be a combination of the alternatives outlined above.

Perhaps most important to the creation of the plan is the fact that it would make the historic site eligible for federal funds to finally replace the trailers that now greet visitors to the Route 9H historic site with a amore fitting entrance.

The new entrance, based upon the final decision of the plan, would, or could, include a visitor’s center, administrative offices, museum storage space, and a maintenance facility.