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Brenda
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Keuka Lake State Park chosen for new Finger Lakes Cultural & History Museum
By David Figura/The Post-Standard
April 26, 2010, 10:55AM
The following is a press release:

Keuka Lake State Park has been chose as the future home of the Finger
Lakes Cultural & Natural History Museum. The vote by the museum's site selection committee was unanimous with one abstention.

After nearly a year of evaluating 19 sites that were originally submitted, the site selection committee, under the direction of chairman Don Naetzker, recommended two sites for the Board’s consideration: Seneca Lake State Park in and adjacent to the City of Geneva, and Keuka Lake State Park near Branchport.

Board president, John Adamski, said, “For more than two months, the Site Selection Committee and the Board of Trustees have been wrestling with the most difficult decision of the entire site selection process: Choosing the right home for the Finger Lakes Museum between two very beautiful but distinctively different sites.”

After enlisting ConsultEcon Inc., a Boston-based market research firm in March, it was determined that the project was viable at either site although for different reasons.

Adamski added, “While the Seneca Lake site has significant advantages like a central location, the board determined that the Keuka Lake site more closely met the requirements that were originally established in the Strategic Plan, specially as they relate to natural history programming.”

Among the advantages that he said tipped the scales in favor of the Keuka Lake site are the following:

· There is 700 feet of intimate lakefront with a level, sandy beach.
· The natural history element of the project is predicted to draw the
most visitors. The rolling, hilly terrain, ravines, brook, woods, and
areas of natural succession that exist there are ideal for wildlife
exhibits in natural habitats.
· Several hundred acres of land are available for wildlife habitats and
interpretive use—now or in the future.
· A 350-car paved parking lot already exists.
· Keuka College has offered to add Museum Sciences to its curriculum and become a partner in the educational aspect of the Museum.
· Yates County and Keuka area business leaders have pledged over $2 million in startup funding.

In addition, Adamski said, “The Branchport Elementary School, which is presently vacant, has been purchased by the Finger Lakes Visitors Association for use as the Museum’s base of operation during the project’s startup phases. The building will provide 15,000 square feet for business offices and initial programming as well as storage for the acquisition of artifacts and collections.” Its 13-acre site provides navigable water access to Keuka Lake.

He also stated, “Finger Lakes State Parks and the Finger Lakes Museum Project will undertake a joint master plan for the entire 620-acre park. The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation has been very cooperative and enthused over the proposal and we look forward to working with them to bring the project to fruition.”

Although the museum will be built on lands leased from Finger Lakes State Parks, it will remain a privately owned and mostly privately funded not for profit educational institution.

For more information or to make contact, see the museum's web site.
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Brenda
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I understand why they made this decision. Selfishly, however, I wanted Seneca Lake State Park because of the central location. Sampson would have been even better, but that was ruled out awhile back.
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Matt
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Sampson would have been better, but... I guess at least it is in a Park. Although, Sampson charges a fee, Keuka... I don't recall.
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Brenda
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It appears that Yates Co., Keuka College and the area businesses made them an offer that they couldn't refuse.
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cbobcat49
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Awesome idea for a museum! Any word on when it will be open?
What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us. ~Henry David Thoreau
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Brenda
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I don't think that it will be anytime soon. It will be an awesome addition to the area though!
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