The Nate Robson / The Citizen

Several counties, including Cayuga, may soon be vying for a chance to host the location of a new $40-45 million museum that will highlight the culture and history of the Finger Lakes region.

John Adamski, president of the museum's board of trustees, said he will be sending a request to each of the 14 counties in the Finger Lakes region within the week asking them to submit a proposal.

Adamski said the facility will be similar to the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain lake because it will highlight several of the region's attractions by focusing on colonialism, native American traditions, agriculture, invasive species and local wildlife.

Steve Lynch, director of the county's Planning and Economic Development Department, said he is waiting to receive a formal request from Finger Lakes Culture and Natural History Museum's board of trustees that will outline the criteria for a suitable location.

“Cayuga County will keep its eyes open, but we haven't heard anything about looking for an unofficial proposal yet,” Lynch said. “It's hard for us to give them anything unless they tell us what they are looking for.”

The museum's central attraction will be a large aquarium, which will highlight the region's aquatic ecosystem, Adamski said. The aquarium is expected to be large enough that it will have a central hallway going through, allowing visitors to look up at the fish as they swim above them.

“This is either going to be a world-class museum or we're not going to do it at all,” Adamski said. “The grassroots of this project have caught on fire and a lot of people seem to be very supportive of the project.”

Even though the museum is still in the early planning stages, Adamski said he is looking for a site near a viable water source on one of the Finger Lakes with access to a municipal sanitary system and electricity. The site also needs to be close to an interstate and located on a 50- to 200-acre plot of land.

Because there are several factors that a county government will have to take into consideration before it can make a proposal, Lynch said he has attended one of the museum's meetings to request that the board ensures the counties have enough time to develop their ideas.

“I encouraged them to open the selection process so that we can give them the best proposal possible,” Lynch said. “Allow us enough time to responsibly look for a location, especially because we have to work as a county government. It's not going to be as easy as saying here is a site. We have to look into whether it's private or public property and negotiate from there.”

Adamski said he hopes to receive at least one proposal from each of the counties by this summer before the board picks the best three. The counties offering those three proposals will then be asked to submit an official offer.

“That's when they have to win us over,” Adamski said. “They have to entice us to want to come to their county.”

Because tourism is a major industry for Cayuga County, Meg Vanek, director of Cayuga County Office of Tourism, said any museum will benefit the local economy, especially one as large as the Finger Lakes Culture and Natural History Museum.

“In general, when people come to visit a local tourist attraction, they don't just come to go to that one place and leave, they stay and spend their money here,” Vanek said. “When visitors come here, they eat, they go shopping and buy souvenirs and they stay at our hotels. That is money that stays here the helps the county and the state.”

Even though the economy has forced the state and federal governments to cut back on providing grants for museums, Adamski said he was still hopeful that he will be able to raise the expected $40 to $45 million dollars needed for construction. The museum's current five-year plan calls for construction to start in 2013, with the doors opening in 2014.

“I am planning on this being a major tourist attraction,” Adamski said. “This will increase tourism, improve education and help everyone learn more about the area's history.”

Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net

How to give input

To get involved with the Finger Lakes Cultural and Natural History Museum, people are encouraged to come to the group's next organizational meeting in Penn Yan.

The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, March 24, at the Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance, 309 Lake St. The meeting will discuss various items regarding finding a suitable site location.

To get more information, call John Adamski, president of the museum's board of directors,

at (585) 746-6247 or e-mail him at

mail@fingerlakesmuseum.org.

People are also encouraged to visit the museum's Web site at www.fingerlakesmuseum.org.