Facilities Planning (“FP”) continues its efforts to develop options for improvements to the church campus, in order to improve accessibility for people with mobility impairments as well as to correct functional deficiencies, address energy conservation issues and upgrade aesthetics.
Dave Barger, the current Chairman of Facilities, along with FP members Max Frable, Peter Jensen, and Rene Cherson, gave a presentation at Adult Forum on January 19th that described an option to create an external addition to the church building to accommodate two new accessible toilet rooms, relocate the Sacristy, improve and consolidate parament storage as well as other items used regularly by Altar Guild, and add an energy-efficient entrance vestibule. The proposed addition is located on the northern side of the existing Narthex/Lobby area and would maintain the existing building entrance/exit.
The plan for an external addition is an option which supplements prior design solutions that involved interior renovations and alterations intended to fit new toilet rooms and a new elevator inside the building, as well as to lower the floor of the existing Sacristy to align with the Narthex/Sanctuary level to eliminate the need to navigate up and down stairs in order to access this space. The primary benefit of an external addition, as compared to internal alterations, is to minimize interior disruption during construction, thereby allowing the church to continue to function relatively normally while construction work occurs.
Alterations outside of the building would entail repositioning of the north driveway, reconfiguring the parking spaces on the north side of the building, and potentially relocating the underground utility electric and gas services. Every attempt will be made to respect the boundaries of the pollinator garden area, and some discussion ensued at Adult Forum regarding ways to further enlarge and enhance the garden area.
FP decided to create this addition option because it eliminates internal disruption, and may reduce construction cost as compared to prior design solution options. It was noted, however, that there are still a few hurdles to overcome, mainly involving the municipality and their review of any addition proposal the church would present to them. The biggest hurdle relates to the reality that our church property doesn’t meet current-day environmental standards regarding on-site stormwater management (how rainwater runoff is controlled and treated). Facility improvements can sometimes result in the municipality requesting supplemental site improvements occur to modernize things such as stormwater management systems, which could consequently increase construction cost.
While Facilities has received some positive comments from township officials regarding a proposed addition, we still won’t know for sure what other work they may require, if any, until we present a final design to them.
The presentation to Adult Forum was well-attended with numerous questions and comments that were generally supportive of the concept. As always, FP welcomes all comments and questions, and will work to address as many issues and concerns as possible as it refines design options to improve our campus. FP has engaged with church groups and ministries that would be directly affected by the proposed renovation/ addition work, and will expand the inclusion of other ministries as the design work further progresses, as we receive positive input from the municipality.
FP’s next steps relate to accommodating comments received from our congregation, gaining additional feedback from utility companies related to relocation of on-site services, and further optimizing this design option to enable us to better compare ultimate project scope complexity and cost with prior-created internal design options – and we will endeavor to keep everyone in the loop!
Respectfully submitted,
David Barger
FP Chair