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Frequently Asked Questions of the Building Committee (5/10/2009)
Why do we need the architectural drawings now? How much will the architectural drawings cost? Have we contacted more than one architectural firm to provide drawings? What will be the number of square feet in the new Narthex? Why will the Narthex be so large? Will there be classrooms in the Narthex? What will be the square foot size of Phase 1? Are the utilities included in the Phase 1 cost? Are we sure we have the finances for all three Phases? Have we considered what it will cost to “moth-ball” our current facility if it doesn’t sell? Can we get both a model and a three-dimensional tour from architectural firms that provide drawings? If we take items from our current kitchen to the new building, we won’t sell this facility. Will the Building Committee continue to ask for the congregation’s input? Will the choir be singing from the rear of the new Sanctuary?
Answers Why do we need the architectural drawings now? There are three reasons for this. First, we need to size and locate the basic systems. These include electric, gas, plumbing, heating, ventilating, security, fire protection, audio, video, communications, and lighting. Phase 1 includes these core systems sized and located to allow the addition of later phases with the least cost impact. Secondly, our current cost estimates are just that. Best guess information based on typical construction practices and “rule of thumb” costs for similar work. This has been fine for identifying basic ministry needs with building concepts and basic financial goal setting. However, we now need to nail down specifics. With the experience on the building committee in other projects it is recognized that the estimates we have now are variable. We need to get hard costs bid by contractors to show exactly what we can build for exactly how much money. If then we have been overly conservative and it turns out we can get more than just Phase 1 for our initial estimate of $2.3 million, we would be able to come back to the congregation with a proposal to add other phases into the initial build without asking for any more money. Finally, some of our new ministries to the community could allow partnerships with other organizations or companies. Having detailed facility plans would allow discussions serious enough for others to commit their financial support to areas beyond phase 1. RETURN TO QUESTIONS How much will the architectural drawings cost? It is expected that drawings detailed enough for bidding and modeling will cost about $150,000 - $200,000. This is money that is already available from the capital campaign and is included in the initial cost estimate. RETURN TO QUESTIONS Have we contacted more than one architectural firm to provide drawings? The formal request for this work is being put together. The committee will issue this request to three pre-selected architectural firms. All these firms have church design experience and good references. Each proposal returned will be reviewed and evaluated. The committee will select the firm that it feels will do the best job for a fair market price. RETURN TO QUESTIONS Fellowship is a critical part of our outreach program. We currently have many outreach activities we sponsor at our facilities and more that we would like to sponsor if we could. Some of those occur Sunday morning, many at other times. Many occur in our current Fellowship Hall (1,024 square feet). Some don’t. It would be wonderful to build all four phases of our new facility at the same time. However, when comparing our rough estimates of costs to our initial capital campaign results we recognized that to accommodate the ministries we wanted to provide in the quality and character we want to provide them we would need to proceed in phases with flexibility built into our approach. When we get detailed bids in for our facilities we will build initially as many of the phases as we can. Hopefully the initial build will include at least the first two phases which include the new Fellowship Hall. If however we only meet our basic financial plan phase one has two large areas (Narthex of 1,747 square feet and the Sanctuary of 4,771 square feet) that could be used until the Phase 2 is built. Is this ideal? No, but there are many capabilities within Phase 1. RETURN TO QUESTIONS What will be the number of square feet in the new Narthex? The Narthex currently is 1,747 square feet. RETURN TO QUESTIONS Excellent idea. As we make our way in discussions with the many church organizations it is important to insure this is the case. RETURN TO QUESTIONS Why will the Narthex be so large? A bright, inviting, open area narthex was identified early on as a desire of the church. SPARC and later the Building Committee have maintained that desire as they have received similar feedback from all the newly completed church projects they have visited. RETURN TO QUESTIONS Will there be classrooms in the Narthex? There are currently no plans to have classrooms in the Narthex. Even in Phase 1 we will have five classrooms located elsewhere. Of course if a class or a group wants to meet in the Narthex there would be no reason the building would not accommodate it. RETURN TO QUESTIONS What will be the square foot size of Phase 1? 13,987 square feet plus a basement of 2,381 square feet. RETURN TO QUESTIONS What will the basement be used for? The basement currently is planned to accommodate storage, files, workshop, and utilities. RETURN TO QUESTIONS Are the utilities included in the Phase 1 cost? Yes. Phase 1 is intended to provide all of the utilities and infrastructure to support the whole project. This is intended to insure adequate space and access for equipment as well as minimize the cost impact of the phases added later. RETURN TO QUESTIONS Are we sure we have the finances for all three Phases? Our current financial plan looks specifically at the first of the four building phases. This is intended to be a very conservative approach to insure we have the finances to provide a facility that will support more than our current ministries with the capability, quality, and character that we have come to expect from “the church of the warm heart.” RETURN TO QUESTIONS Have we considered what it will cost to “moth-ball” our current facility if it doesn’t sell? SPARC has designated a team to pursue the future of our current facilities. There are several ideas on future uses that are being looked into. It is the desire to be able to transition our responsibility for the facilities to their new owner so that no “moth-balling” is required. Obviously much has to be done to make that work out so well. RETURN TO QUESTIONS Can we get both a model and a three-dimensional tour from architectural firms that provide drawings? Yes, this can be made available in the bid process for a price. RETURN TO QUESTIONS Yes. Much of the equipment, supplies, and furnishings will be coming with us. However, because we have not met with many of the groups in the church to finalized their detailed specific needs we don’t know exactly what goes and what does not. As a result we have made generic cost estimates of what could be needed in the new church. Because they are entrusted with matters pertaining to buildings and property with the Board of Trustees have authority to work together with the Building Committee and SPARC team in making these determinations. Example: Will we take the Pastor’s desk to the new facility? We haven’t decided that level of detail yet. However, to avoid getting caught without anything in the Pastor’s office we have generically identified costs for new office furniture and included that amount in the initial estimate for Phase 1. RETURN TO QUESTIONS If we take items from our current kitchen to the new building, we won’t sell this facility. We currently do not know what future use will be made of our current facilities. We have had an informal evaluation of the building and grounds to help identify potential uses and value. SPARC has a team that will be exploring opportunities for our facilities in the future. As discussions arise with potential new owners, details could include leaving some items here that we plan to take or removing some items we may plan to leave. Although this may change details of our planning it should not be a financial burden. In the rough estimate we initially made for Phase 1, the cost of all new equipment was provided. As we detail the next round of estimates we may plan on taking some equipment. If later a buyer desires we leave that equipment we could then purchase new items in the new facility. This would not impair our current financial plan because it does not assume any income from our current facilities. Therefore a portion of any proceeds from any sale could be used in the new facilities. RETURN TO QUESTIONS No. The current plan is to insure that all current ministries have adequate capabilities in the completed Phase 1 facility. This would not require running activities from both facilities. RETURN TO QUESTIONS Will the Building Committee continue to ask for the congregation’s input? Yes. The recent vote has opened a new round of needed input. The Building Committee now needs to meet with our church organizations to discuss detailed level inputs to nail down final needs and changes. A schedule of these meetings will be provided so anyone desiring can attend. RETURN TO QUESTIONS Using the money from the sale of the parsonage has been an ongoing desire and the subject of many of the financial team’s discussions. In the most recent discussions with the UMC, we have been assured that about $100,000 of the proceeds of the parsonage will be able to be applied to the Capital Campaign. RETURN TO QUESTIONS Will the choir be singing from the rear of the new Sanctuary? The music department has not finalized the planned location for all of the bands and choirs. RETURN TO QUESTIONS |
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