Aug. 5 -
Just heard back from the County. The two big questions that were still up in the air from the July 21 meeting HAVE
BEEN APPROVED BY THE COUNTY. The water sprinkler vault can go in the new island at the front parking lot. And the
LH side Promenade can be created as we have planned. This Promenade will be the primary walkway from the front
parking lot to the rear Meditation Gardens. Five sets of doors from different areas of the Church open out into this
Promenade space: the Lobby, the kitchen, the Fellowship Hall, a secondary hallway that comes from the main
hallway, and the Sanctuary. Go to Promenade to see a cross section rendering that Eric did showing the existing
elevation and what the proposed elevation will be, plus the landscape layout done by Vicki showing the retaining wall
and water feature. Great work Eric and Vicki.
July 21 -
Meeting with Chesterfield County. Preliminary site plan meeting with all the County Department heads. Representing
the church was Eric Hepler, Jeff Staub (Balzer), Vicki O'Neal (Landscape Designer & Building Team member), and
Rusty Rothrock (Building Team member). Primary discussions were concerning the location of the water sprinkler
vault at the exterior parking lot (where 6" water line is coming up from Buford Rd.) and whether the LH side setback
from the property line would allow us to create the Promenade area we were hoping have. Should hear back from the
County shortly concerning these two issues.
July 20 -
Building Team meeting. Neil Palmer from Century Construction went over the proposed construction cost of the new
church. Time was spent on each line item with various discussions on cost saving options. Eric went over the cost
savings of changing the vaulted hallway back to a more traditional hallway. This is a beautiful look with wainscoting
on the walls and heavy timber separating different sections. This rendering from Eric is now being displayed on the
Home page.
May 6 -
Building Team Meeting. Getting organized for the upcoming Annual Membership meeting.
April 8 & 14 -
Building Team meetings. Eric showed us all the various cut through sections of the new church.
The main hallway going from the front foyer to the Sanctuary is going to be an 18' high vaulted ceiling with skylights
flooding this interior space with natural lighting. This effect is going to be very dramatic. Eric also showed us various
sketches of the possible view that the artist rendering would be created from. To see all the new sketches and
drawings, go to Construction Docs.
March 25 -
Building team meeting. Discussion of landscaping and Meditation Gardens. Vicki O'Neal went over the preliminary
landscape plan that she created for the left hand side promenade (walk-way) to the Meditation Gardens. This is a
beautiful design incorporating many places for people to gather. There is also a water feature built in to the stone
retaining wall right outside the Fellowship Hall. The overall concept that Vicki has used in this design is that the
Meditation Gardens will actually begin as one enters the promenade walk-way on the front LH side of the church. Vicki
has also included space for six to eight 10 X 10 tents when Arts in the Garden or other events are held. See
Promenade Plan.
Ayer discussed the various locations to consider for the new tool shed that will be constructed out in the Gardens.
She also discussed the things that will be needed to be in place to maintain the Gardens during the transition period
of the new church being built. Temporary water supply lines and electricity will need to be installed.
March 4 -
Building Team Meeting. Eric went over the revised changes from the last meeting. The new location of the bookstore
feels perfect. The bookstore will consist of glass walls on all sides. Across from the bookstore on the other side of
the foyer is a large gathering area with love seats, chairs, and tables. Three new design topics were brought up and
discussed : 1. To move the bathroom doors further out to the hallway to free up traffic flow inside the bathrooms.
2. To add a baby changing station area to both bathrooms. 3. To add a second dishwasher in the kitchen beside the
other sink (so that there are now 2 sinks and 2 dishwashers).
Feb. 17 -
Building Team Meeting. Meeting spent refining interior spaces. Vicki, Rev. Joyce, and Cheryll had spent some time
during the week re-designing the Administration office space and work stations. Building Team also discussed
flipping the location of the bookstore (in the large lobby) so that it's on the same side of the lobby where the offices are
located. Also discussed was using a movable ramp (that could be stored away when not in use) at the sanctuary
stage going up to the top platform. Eric will be making all of these changes accordingly.
Feb. 7 -
Membership Meeting. A church membership meeting was held at church after the
11:00 AM service. The purpose of this meeting was to vote on which bank proposal the church should go with for
the construction financing and permanent financing that would be needed for the new church construction. Due
to the inclement weather, church members were able to vote online (for the very first time in our church history).
Results of the total voting (in person & online): 72 yes, 0 no to go with First Market Bank. To see the Power Point
presentation that was shown at the Membership Meeting (and to those voting online) click on Bank Proposals.
Jan. 28
Building Team meeting. Eric Hepler went over the revised floor plans and discussed many things for further
thought and review (click on Current Floor Plans). Eric also presented the new Exterior Elevations that he's been
working on. These exterior elevations are beautiful. As Tom Layman mentioned at this meeting "of new church
design looks and feels like Bon Air."
Our new church is truly going to be a wonderful addition to the Bon Air architectural community.
Jan. 9, 2010
Building Team and Board of Directors Field Trip. Neil Palmer and Bill Hollowell from Century Construction took us
on a field trip to see their most recent completed new construction project at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.
This is a beautiful church and we were very fortunate to have this opportunity of seeing it up close. Their main
foyer and their sanctuary were very close in size to our planned spaces for the same. To see pictures from this
Field Trip (and other churches we have looked at), click on Various Field Trips to other Churches.
Dec. 14 & 15
Meetings with four banks: First Market, SunTrust, BB&T, and First Citizens. Here's a copy of the correspondence
sent out to Board of Directors, Trustees, and Building Team Committee:
"As many of you know, Howard Green and Rusty Rothrock held interviews at church with four different banks the
past two days. During that time the banks were brought up to speed concerning our church expansion, capital
campaign, and the necessary funding that would eventually be needed by the church. All of the interviews went
fantastic, here are some of the common threads:
* The banks were very impressed with the growth and prosperity of our church in such a short time, and they
were impressed with the pledges generated by our capital campaign.
* The banks were all looking for the same information...number of giving units, number of members, etc. (most of
which were able to supply to them in our presentation booklet).
* The banks were very complimentary towards our presentation booklets that Tom Layman put together, in fact
one banker Chris Layne from BB&T said "hands down, this is the most beautiful package I have ever seen
presented by a church."
* The banks seemed "eager" to do business with us.
* All four banks would want the church to do it's daily banking with them (if we were to choose them for our
construction loan).
* All four banks said they would have answers back to us within 3-4 weeks.
In closing, we feel very comfortable with all four banks and we affirm that we will be getting attractive loan
proposals from all four. Thanks to everyone who was involved in making these bank presentations become a
reality. Special thanks to Karen Hawkins and Kathy Blaska for getting all of the financials together for us, to Tom
Layman for creating such a powerful presentation booklet, and to Rev. Joyce who took time out of her schedule to
"pop in" during each of the bank interviews. "
We're on our way. Thank you God. Blessings to all,
Howard & Rusty
Nov. 23
Where did the house next door go? Here one day and gone the next. Our new parking lot is coming along just
great.
Nov. 12
Building Team Meeting. Eric Hepler showed us the rough sketch of the church exterior. This is a very rough
sketch but it looks fantastic. The architectural flavor is that of the Arts & Craft period that was prevalent
throughout Richmond and Bon Air in the 1920's. A stone facade will be used on the bottom 4' of the exterior walls,
cedar shakes and siding will be used in the upper portions of the exterior walls. Heavier wood trim will be used
around all windows, doorways, and soffit and cornice details. See exterior rough sketch.
We also spent some time going over the construction cost estimates once again. These figures will be used by
the Finance Committee as they prepare to approach four different banks for construction loan applications. This
will hopefully be done by the middle of December. Once loan approval is granted and we decide which bank we
would like to work with, we will then be able to turn Eric loose on continuing the plan drawings.
Aug. 18, Sept. 3, Sept. 24
Building Team Meetings. Meetings consisting of working on all the soft costs related to the expansion project,
fine tuning the revised floor plan of approx. 9,100 sq. ft., and working through all the estimated construction costs
in preparation for the Finance Committee to be able to approach lending institutions.
During this process, the revised floor plan has been submitted by Eric Hepler (see Current Floor Plan) and the
revised Master Plan has been submitted by Andrew Bowman from Balzer (see Master Plan).
Aug. 4
Building Team Meeting. The meeting tonight consisted of going over every line item that Neil Palmer presented
last week. Eric Hepler was a big help in explaining the costs and looking at ways to get the project back "in
budget." Many options were discussed, one being cutting the square footage and getting back into the
9,000-10,000 square feet area. Tasks were assigned to different Building Team members to work on figures and
cost cutting measures prior to the next Building Team meeting. All options need to be addressed and weighed.
July 28
Building Team Meeting. Neil Palmer form Century Construction has been working on preliminary cost estimates
for the project. These estimates were based on the existing square footage that is being represented in the most
current floor plan (which is now up to almost 12,000 square feet). Neil had a line item for everything from clearing
the trees at the house next door to the furniture that is needed once the church is completed. Based on the
present plans, Neil's figures showed that we are approximately $500 -600,000 over budget (using the goal of
$1.1M).
July 21
Building Team Meeting. Eric showed us the recent changes that we agreed on at the last meeting. Everything
looked good except for the location of the door coming out of the Chapel into the Sanctuary. The Building Team
thought is would be more useful to have a set of double French doors at this location, opening out into the
Sanctuary. Eric will be making the appropriate changes. The next Building Team meeting with Eric will consist of
seeing the exterior elevations, window placement, and all the roof lines...it's getting exciting now.
James Browne and Dan O'Neal once again presented various options from a video and audio perspective. James
will be checking on the most current types of video projectors along with different types of consoles to house the
equipment at the rear of the Sanctuary.
June 18 & June 30
Building Team Meetings. Working on interior design and floor plans. Looking at all options for the Sanctuary
design and location of the designated Chapel. Eric showed us the recent changes. We still want to add another
stall in the Ladies Room (will use the space that was designated for exterior closet outside of bathroom). Still
need to locate a space for the audio / video equipment at the rear of the Sanctuary.
June 11
Building Team Meeting. Subcommittees reported back as to the requests and desires of their groups that they
were assigned : Anne Purser & John Rayfield - Kitchen design, Susan Cullen - educational / classroom needs,
Vicki O'Neal - all offices, work stations, Minister office, and much more, Tom Layman - musicians and stage
layout in the Sanctuary, and Ayer Chamberlin - Chapel design and Chaplain needs. Much more discussion is
needed on all of the above items. We're meeting again next week to fine tune various things.
May 14
Building Team Meeting. Another exciting meeting with Eric going through the floor plans of the new church. Eric
moved some walls around since the last meeting. Some items of note:
* The church office now has a glass wall with great visibility to the lobby and front door.
* Folding glass doors at the Fellowship Hall allowing for large events to "pour out" into the hallway
for additional space.
* Staircase to the attic allowing us to create storage rooms for various purposes.
From here the Building Team will be interviewing the various Department Heads of the church to fine-tune the
room spaces and specific needs. The floor plans will continue to change every 2 weeks until we have the finished
layout and design that we are happy with.
April 30
Building Team Meeting. Excellent meeting tonight. Eric showed us more details of where the various rooms
would be located in the new church. He was also able to generate some exterior elevations showing the
approximate exterior dimensions of the building and the roof lines.
The Building Team has also been looking at different exterior facade possibilities. The one look that the majority
of us like is that of an Arts & Crafts Era. This form of architecture occurred during the 1920's -1930's and was
composed of stone, stucco, and wood materials. There are many houses in Bon Air and Richmond that reflect the
Arts & Crafts architecture. Attached are some pictures of a newer building with semi Arts & Crafts feeling
(pictures).
March 25
Building Team Meeting. Had a very exciting meeting tonight. Eric Hepler, the architect, was able to attend the
meeting and brought along with him a schematic design of the new church. These schematic designs are not
showing specifics but more so where the different functions of the church will be located. The sanctuary will be
located at the rear looking out into the Meditation Gardens, the kitchen and Fellowship Hall will be on the LH side
with exterior doors opening out to a terrace (and walk-way from front of church to Meditation Gardens), the
bookstore and offices will be on the RH side of the main foyer, and the Education wing will be on the rear RH side.
Feb. 15
Membership Meeting, 12:45 PM. There was a tremendous turnout for this meeting, people wanted to hear more
about the vision of building a new church behind the existing church. Both Eric Hepler and Neil Palmer made
excellent presentations (see pictures). Both men spoke about their qualifications and the past church projects
that they have completed and worked together on.
Eric and Neil also talked about the challenges of trying to add on to the existing structure and why it would be
more cost-effective to consider building a new church. They also discussed all the advantages of new
construction, including (but not limited to) : slab construction (everything on one floor, no stairs, no elevator, no
ramps), new energy efficient heating and cooling systems, better insulation package, the chance to use
environment friendly "green" construction materials, and the huge advantage of staying in the existing building
while the new structure is being built out back.
After the initial presentations, there was a questions and answer session with many of our members asking very
good questions. After all the questions where answered, the members in attendance were then asked to vote.
The vote totals were 78-2 in favor of having Eric Hepler to be hired as the architect to design new plans for a
church to be built behind the existing building and for Century Construction to be the Builder on a design / build
basis.
Feb. 11, 2009
Building Team Meeting. Tonight's meeting was spent preparing for the upcoming Membership Meeting on Feb.
15th. Eric Hepler, architect, and Neil Palmer, Century Construction, are both scheduled to make presentations at
the Membership Meeting. These two gentlemen will be presenting their reasons why the church membership
should consider to build a new church behind the existing church. The Building Team also had to work out the
proper language to be used for the ballot that the membership would be voting on.
At the meeting tonight we also discussed the sample chair program that two different manufacturers are offering
to us. These two companies, Church Chair (Rome, GA) and Fellowship Chair (Victoria, VA) would each like to ship
us a free chair to start trying out in the sanctuary. The Building Team decided on the style of the chairs and the
colors of the fabrics. These would not necessarily be the final colors and patterns to be used in the new
sanctuary. These two chairs are strictly sample chairs to determine the quality and comfort between the two
manufacturers. Both chairs will be used in the sanctuary as soon as they arrive and everyone will have a chance
to sit in one or both of the chairs during the next 40 weeks or so (until the time comes as to when we need to
decide on which manufacturer to order from). Survey sheets will be positioned under both chairs for people to fill
out after each service. We want to get everybody's opinion as to which chair is more comfortable.
Nov. 25
Building Team Meeting. Discussion as to how everyone felt about the presentation that Eric Hepler (the architect)
made at the Board meeting last week. This Board Meeting was a joint meeting with the Building Team so that
everyone could meet Eric Hepler and to hear his presentation.
Everyone on the Building Team was very impressed with Eric. He was very much aware of all the issues that our
church expansion needs to address. He also felt confident about designing a new church (to be built behind our
existing church) and to have the cost come in at the same budget we had originally earmarked for the expansion
of the existing building. Eric mentioned that approximately 80% of his architectural business is designing new
churches and various church expansions. Eric is very active in his church, he lives in the Bon Air area, and he is
just simply a very nice person. Hopefully in the near future our entire congregation will get a chance to meet and
to hear Eric Hepler.
The Board of Directors was very impressed with Eric as well. Eric was asked to work up a proposal as to what he
would charge to design a new church that would be built behind the existing church. In order for Eric to do a
proposal, he asked the Building Team to create a
"wish list" of rooms needed in the new church along with the approximate sizes for each room. Our meeting
tonight was to do exactly that. See the attached "wish list."
As one will see, this "wish list" totals up to 8,187 sq. ft. But when adding in hallways, closets, and other storage
areas, we're probably going to be in the 9,000 sq. ft. range. The size of our existing church (both floors combined)
is 3,800 sq. ft. Using these two figures, the new church
will be almost 2 1/2 times larger that the existing church. Yeah God.
Nov. 8
Please read Oct. 23 information before reading this post of Nov. 8. Thank You.
Field Trip. The Building team and the Board of Directors had a fantastic field trip to First Mennonite Church on
Parham Rd. This is a beautiful church that Century Construction built and Eric Hepler designed. The size of this
church is 10,000 sq. ft. and it cost approximately $1.2 M (site prep cost, curb and gutter, and asphalt parking lot
costs all included in this price).
Eric Hepler has been kind enough to send us the floor plan of First Mennonite Church, click on First Mennonite
Binder (there are 3 pictures and 2 floor plans). When you open this binder up, make sure the magnification is set
at 100% on the pictures. If you want to look at things closer on the floor plans, go ahead and use the
magnification.
To see the Field Trip pictures, click on Field Trip. There are 21 pictures in this grouping, so make sure you see
them all (it does take 10-15 seconds for all of these to download, be patient). Also, on most of the Field Trip
pictures there's a little yellow note pad positioned somewhere in the picture. You can click on this yellow note
pad and a comment will pop up explaining what you are looking at.
All of this is very exciting, but everyone needs to remember that at this point it's all just a "possibility." The
Building Team will be talking with Century Construction and Eric Hepler in the next several weeks to get into more
details. We also will need to talk with Chesterfield County to see if it's feasible. The County is already in the
process of approving our original Master Plan that included all 3 Phases of our church expansion. Building a new
church behind our existing church fits inside our original footprint that we submitted to the County several
months ago.
We welcome all comments from everybody concerning this possibility. Click on Contact (to the left) and send us
some feedback. Thank You.
Oct. 23
Meeting with Century Construction. Cheryll and Rusty met with Neil Palmer from Century Construction and Eric
Hepler, an independent architect who works closely with Century Construction. Century is considered the
premier church building firm in the Richmond area. For more information on Century visit
www.centuryconstruction.com Make sure you click on the Religious Facilities page on their website to see an
impressive picture display of many Richmond churches that they have built or modified.
This meeting at our church with Neil and Eric was very enlightening. We showed them our proposed expansion
plans, we talked about all the needs of the church, and we discussed some concerns we had of attaching
expansion wings on three sides of our church. We also gave them a tour of our property and a walk through the
Meditation Garden.
Neil Palmer felt that our plans offered some challenges on several fronts : tying in the new sanctuary expansion
roof to the existing "stick built" roof, installation of an elevator at a reasonable price (he mentioned that it might
run in the $80M -100M range), re-working the existing heating and cooling system to tie in with the new HVAC
systems that would be needed, plus having to deal with the floor elevation differences on the ground floor (the
new church expansion floors would be 24" deeper giving more head clearance and allowing for space needed to
run the new HVAC ducts in the dropped ceilings of the new expansions)..
From a design and planning standpoint Eric Hepler talked about some of the issues that he saw would still exist
even after our expansion was finished:
1. The height of the front brick steps is very intimidating. Eric mentioned that we have no idea as to how many
potential new church goers might have pulled up in our parking lot, only to turn around and leave after seeing the
demanding front steps.
2. The L shape of the new sanctuary is not the best layout. Eric fully understands that we have side property line
set-back limitations to work within (which created the L shape to get a 175 seating capacity).
3. The basement maze of hallways and classrooms is not conducive to attract new younger families (and their
kids) to our church. Eric mentioned that the growth of the younger family population in any church is a direct
correlation to the future stability of that church.
Eric and Neil both agreed that our church monies might be better spent and that we would get more "bang for the
buck" to consider new construction. Century has recently completed some new churches in the $110-115 per
sq. ft. range. After seeing our incredible Meditation Garden they immediately visualized a new sanctuary looking
out onto the gardens. The concept that they would like for us to consider is to build a new church behind the
existing church, continue to hold services in our existing building until the new church is completed, and then
remove the existing building 100%.
Here are some additional thoughts that they brought up :
* The new sanctuary would be located at the rear lower parking area. The back wall of the sanctuary would
consist mostly of glass looking out into the Meditation Garden. Seating capacity in the new sanctuary would be in
the 175-200 range.
* There would be no stairs, no ramps, and no elevator. The entire new church would be built on one floor (slab
construction). Here's a fascinating fact about our current topography around the church : the elevation at the
front parking spaces by the front sidewalk is almost the same elevation as the rear gravel parking lot near the
woods (there's only a 1' difference in this distance of almost 200'). What this means is that the entire floor of the
new church would be the same elevation as the existing front parking spaces.
* The new building would incorporate all the newest materials in "green" construction, along with the most
energy efficient heating and cooling systems on the market today.
Needless to say, the Building Team is very interested in this new possibility that Neil and Eric have brought forth.
To further investigate this vision, a "field trip" has been organized for the Building Team and Board of Directors to
visit one of the recent church projects that Century Construction and Eric Hepler have completed. We will be
visiting First Mennonite Church on
Nov. 8th.
Aug. 5 & 21, 2008 Sept. 2 & 16, 2008 Oct. 9 & 23, 2008
Building Team Meetings. The addition of Vicki O'Neal to the Building team has been a tremendous asset. Vicki
brings with her interior design knowledge and the ability to a develop plans via the CAD system. With Vicki's
expertise, we are able to more walls around on the computer and to try different scenarios for the building plans.
This has allowed the Building Team to look at many options in the effort to come up with the "perfect" plans for
the present
and near future needs of our growing church.
July 17, 2008
Building Team Meeting. Had an excellent meeting tonight. With recent comments and concerns from church
members, we're now looking at the possibility of two major changes (from the most recent plans that many
people have seen).
1. A more "user friendly" location for the 3 person elevator. Just getting to church for a handicapped person is
enough of a challenge, we don't want them facing another challenge getting into the sanctuary from our parking
lot.
2. Re-defining how the upstairs kitchen is to be used. We're now leaning towards having a "galley kitchen"
upstairs that will strictly be used for Fellowship coffee and light refreshments after the Sunday services. This
kitchen in all probability would not have a stove but rather a large microwave (used to re-heat items if necessary).
This galley kitchen would also have a dishwasher. The kitchen design and storage will be based totally upon the
needs to service the Fellowship coffee, with traffic flow being of utmost importance. The large gathering area for
the Fellowship coffee will consist mostly of the smaller 42" tall bistro type tables that people would stand at.
There would be no chairs in this area for people to "camp out." Chairs and tables would be out on the deck for
people to sit if they so desired. No eating or drinking would be allowed in the Sanctuary whatsoever.
The downstairs kitchen and Fellowship Hall is being re-designed to accommodate larger crowds and events:
thing's like quarterly "pot luck" dinners, social events (dances, movies, Bingo, etc.), and special events like
Papa's Spaghetti Dinner. The large Fellowship Hall would be approx.
25' X 40' and would have closets for table and chair storage. As is the case in the present set of plans, this large
fellowship hall on the ground floor opens up to the front of the church with two French doors and a covered
portico area. The AA meetings on Saturday morning would be held in this new fellowship hall.
Attached to this large fellowship hall is a full service kitchen designed to handle large functions. There would be
plenty of storage for kitchen equipment and plenty of storage for food products. This kitchen would easily
accommodate 4-5 people preparing food at one time.
As more members of our church make their thoughts known, we are listening and trying to making "everything"
work together. Change is good; the direction we're moving in is excellent. God's in charge and we all know that
everything is eventually going to be "as it should be."
July 3, 2008
Just received the new plans from Bill Laslett showing the Phase 2 plans connected to Phase 1.
Click on Phase 1 & 2 Combined Plans. Camera pictures were taken of these plans and then converted to PDF
files to get them on this website ASAP. Eventually these plans will be scanned with the proper equipment.
When you open this PDF file, you will need to scroll down to see all three pages: the 1st floor, the Ground Floor,
and the Front Elevation.
June 13, 2008
Meeting at church concerning the moving of the house next door.
In attendance: Mr. Van Garber - Habitat for Humanity
Ms. Lyn Gregory - Habitat for Humanity
Mr. Garland Curtis - Richmond Redevelopment & Housing Authority
Ms. Candice Street - Virginia Supportive Housing
Bill Laslett - Church Architect
Rev. Joyce, Rusty Rothrock, Cheryll Weis
This was a very good meeting with open discussion concerning the gifting of the house next door. The church
would like to give the house as a love offering to Habitat for Humanity for one of their needing families. The
problem that Habitat has at this time is two-fold :
1. They don't have a vacant lot that is close to our church at the present time.
2. They don't have the necessary funds to pay a house mover (approx. $40,000), plus the
additional funds needed to rehab the house once it's moved to a new location.
Habitat is more than happy to accept funds from outside sources to accomplish all of the above. In a effort to
think "out of the box" we all did some brain storming as to possible corporations or organizations who might be
interested in "saving a house" (a Green marketing opportunity) along with "helping a family".
Anyone out there that might have some contacts and / or ideas, please let us know.
May 8, 2008
Building Team meeting with Bill Laslett (our architect). Topics of discussion :
1. Rear Elevations. Bill showed us some rear elevations of the church expansion for the very first time. This
consisted of the rear gable extension of the Sanctuary that looks just like the front facade of the Sanctuary
expansion. Another gable roof for the new bathroom facilities protrudes out from the rear of the existing kitchen.
In between these two gable structures (connecting the two) is a shed roof that encompasses the kitchen and the
reception area. Please refer to the First Floor Plan to get a better sense of the spaces involved. As soon as these
rear elevations become available, they will be posted on this site.
2. Front Left Hand side expansion. With the capital campaign going so well, we had a open discussion
concerning the possibility of including the building of Phase II in with the construction of Phase I. As most people
are aware, Phase I consists of enlarging the existing Administration Office by including the space from the two
exiting bathrooms. Phase II consists of building a matching gable addition on the front left hand side of the
church. This wing would look similar in size as the right hand side sanctuary expansion but it would have
different window arrangements and a different facade. In Phase II, the new Administrative office (of Phase I)
would be turned into a new bookstore with glass windows facing the main foyer.
The new wing would consist of a good size Administrative office with individual work areas (and copier center), a
new Assistant Minister's office, and possibly enough space for a new Secretarial office that connects to both
Joyce's office and to the new Assistant Minister's office. If we could at least get this wing framed up, totally
enclosed, windows installed, exterior facade on, roof on, and HVAC installed, it would be fantastic. The finishing
of this wing would occur as money is available (after the completion of the Sanctuary expansion). The ground
floor of this wing would be left unfinished as well. It just makes sense to include this wing with Phase I, as
opposed to building this wing within a short time frame after finishing Phase I. The fact is, the church needs this
valuable space right now, not 3-5 years from now. Framing up Phase II with the Phase I construction would also
be very cost effective and would save us money (when compared to tearing out and building later).
Bill Laslett will be working on preliminary costs of this Phase II addition. The size of this wing is 775 sq ft. X two
floors = 1,500 sq. ft. Using $125 sq. ft. would be around $200,000 for a 100% completed wing. Getting footings
installed, brick & block foundation walls up, exterior walls and windows set, roof and shingles on, exterior facade
(siding), and HVAC installed...should all be less than $100,000 to do.
The plans for Phase II will be included in this website very soon. Check back often.
May 1, 2008
Our Master Plan designer, Andrew Bowman from Balzer & Associates, reports that thing's are moving ahead
nicely with the Chesterfield County Planning Department.
The County Planning review team consists of the following departments : Planning, Zoning, Virginia Department of
Transportation, Environmental, Fire Department, etc.
Andrew hopes that the final reviews will be occurring by the early part of June with final approval shortly
thereafter.
Just heard back from the County. The two big questions that were still up in the air from the July 21 meeting HAVE
BEEN APPROVED BY THE COUNTY. The water sprinkler vault can go in the new island at the front parking lot. And the
LH side Promenade can be created as we have planned. This Promenade will be the primary walkway from the front
parking lot to the rear Meditation Gardens. Five sets of doors from different areas of the Church open out into this
Promenade space: the Lobby, the kitchen, the Fellowship Hall, a secondary hallway that comes from the main
hallway, and the Sanctuary. Go to Promenade to see a cross section rendering that Eric did showing the existing
elevation and what the proposed elevation will be, plus the landscape layout done by Vicki showing the retaining wall
and water feature. Great work Eric and Vicki.
July 21 -
Meeting with Chesterfield County. Preliminary site plan meeting with all the County Department heads. Representing
the church was Eric Hepler, Jeff Staub (Balzer), Vicki O'Neal (Landscape Designer & Building Team member), and
Rusty Rothrock (Building Team member). Primary discussions were concerning the location of the water sprinkler
vault at the exterior parking lot (where 6" water line is coming up from Buford Rd.) and whether the LH side setback
from the property line would allow us to create the Promenade area we were hoping have. Should hear back from the
County shortly concerning these two issues.
July 20 -
Building Team meeting. Neil Palmer from Century Construction went over the proposed construction cost of the new
church. Time was spent on each line item with various discussions on cost saving options. Eric went over the cost
savings of changing the vaulted hallway back to a more traditional hallway. This is a beautiful look with wainscoting
on the walls and heavy timber separating different sections. This rendering from Eric is now being displayed on the
Home page.
May 6 -
Building Team Meeting. Getting organized for the upcoming Annual Membership meeting.
April 8 & 14 -
Building Team meetings. Eric showed us all the various cut through sections of the new church.
The main hallway going from the front foyer to the Sanctuary is going to be an 18' high vaulted ceiling with skylights
flooding this interior space with natural lighting. This effect is going to be very dramatic. Eric also showed us various
sketches of the possible view that the artist rendering would be created from. To see all the new sketches and
drawings, go to Construction Docs.
March 25 -
Building team meeting. Discussion of landscaping and Meditation Gardens. Vicki O'Neal went over the preliminary
landscape plan that she created for the left hand side promenade (walk-way) to the Meditation Gardens. This is a
beautiful design incorporating many places for people to gather. There is also a water feature built in to the stone
retaining wall right outside the Fellowship Hall. The overall concept that Vicki has used in this design is that the
Meditation Gardens will actually begin as one enters the promenade walk-way on the front LH side of the church. Vicki
has also included space for six to eight 10 X 10 tents when Arts in the Garden or other events are held. See
Promenade Plan.
Ayer discussed the various locations to consider for the new tool shed that will be constructed out in the Gardens.
She also discussed the things that will be needed to be in place to maintain the Gardens during the transition period
of the new church being built. Temporary water supply lines and electricity will need to be installed.
March 4 -
Building Team Meeting. Eric went over the revised changes from the last meeting. The new location of the bookstore
feels perfect. The bookstore will consist of glass walls on all sides. Across from the bookstore on the other side of
the foyer is a large gathering area with love seats, chairs, and tables. Three new design topics were brought up and
discussed : 1. To move the bathroom doors further out to the hallway to free up traffic flow inside the bathrooms.
2. To add a baby changing station area to both bathrooms. 3. To add a second dishwasher in the kitchen beside the
other sink (so that there are now 2 sinks and 2 dishwashers).
Feb. 17 -
Building Team Meeting. Meeting spent refining interior spaces. Vicki, Rev. Joyce, and Cheryll had spent some time
during the week re-designing the Administration office space and work stations. Building Team also discussed
flipping the location of the bookstore (in the large lobby) so that it's on the same side of the lobby where the offices are
located. Also discussed was using a movable ramp (that could be stored away when not in use) at the sanctuary
stage going up to the top platform. Eric will be making all of these changes accordingly.
Feb. 7 -
Membership Meeting. A church membership meeting was held at church after the
11:00 AM service. The purpose of this meeting was to vote on which bank proposal the church should go with for
the construction financing and permanent financing that would be needed for the new church construction. Due
to the inclement weather, church members were able to vote online (for the very first time in our church history).
Results of the total voting (in person & online): 72 yes, 0 no to go with First Market Bank. To see the Power Point
presentation that was shown at the Membership Meeting (and to those voting online) click on Bank Proposals.
Jan. 28
Building Team meeting. Eric Hepler went over the revised floor plans and discussed many things for further
thought and review (click on Current Floor Plans). Eric also presented the new Exterior Elevations that he's been
working on. These exterior elevations are beautiful. As Tom Layman mentioned at this meeting "of new church
design looks and feels like Bon Air."
Our new church is truly going to be a wonderful addition to the Bon Air architectural community.
Jan. 9, 2010
Building Team and Board of Directors Field Trip. Neil Palmer and Bill Hollowell from Century Construction took us
on a field trip to see their most recent completed new construction project at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.
This is a beautiful church and we were very fortunate to have this opportunity of seeing it up close. Their main
foyer and their sanctuary were very close in size to our planned spaces for the same. To see pictures from this
Field Trip (and other churches we have looked at), click on Various Field Trips to other Churches.
Dec. 14 & 15
Meetings with four banks: First Market, SunTrust, BB&T, and First Citizens. Here's a copy of the correspondence
sent out to Board of Directors, Trustees, and Building Team Committee:
"As many of you know, Howard Green and Rusty Rothrock held interviews at church with four different banks the
past two days. During that time the banks were brought up to speed concerning our church expansion, capital
campaign, and the necessary funding that would eventually be needed by the church. All of the interviews went
fantastic, here are some of the common threads:
* The banks were very impressed with the growth and prosperity of our church in such a short time, and they
were impressed with the pledges generated by our capital campaign.
* The banks were all looking for the same information...number of giving units, number of members, etc. (most of
which were able to supply to them in our presentation booklet).
* The banks were very complimentary towards our presentation booklets that Tom Layman put together, in fact
one banker Chris Layne from BB&T said "hands down, this is the most beautiful package I have ever seen
presented by a church."
* The banks seemed "eager" to do business with us.
* All four banks would want the church to do it's daily banking with them (if we were to choose them for our
construction loan).
* All four banks said they would have answers back to us within 3-4 weeks.
In closing, we feel very comfortable with all four banks and we affirm that we will be getting attractive loan
proposals from all four. Thanks to everyone who was involved in making these bank presentations become a
reality. Special thanks to Karen Hawkins and Kathy Blaska for getting all of the financials together for us, to Tom
Layman for creating such a powerful presentation booklet, and to Rev. Joyce who took time out of her schedule to
"pop in" during each of the bank interviews. "
We're on our way. Thank you God. Blessings to all,
Howard & Rusty
Nov. 23
Where did the house next door go? Here one day and gone the next. Our new parking lot is coming along just
great.
Nov. 12
Building Team Meeting. Eric Hepler showed us the rough sketch of the church exterior. This is a very rough
sketch but it looks fantastic. The architectural flavor is that of the Arts & Craft period that was prevalent
throughout Richmond and Bon Air in the 1920's. A stone facade will be used on the bottom 4' of the exterior walls,
cedar shakes and siding will be used in the upper portions of the exterior walls. Heavier wood trim will be used
around all windows, doorways, and soffit and cornice details. See exterior rough sketch.
We also spent some time going over the construction cost estimates once again. These figures will be used by
the Finance Committee as they prepare to approach four different banks for construction loan applications. This
will hopefully be done by the middle of December. Once loan approval is granted and we decide which bank we
would like to work with, we will then be able to turn Eric loose on continuing the plan drawings.
Aug. 18, Sept. 3, Sept. 24
Building Team Meetings. Meetings consisting of working on all the soft costs related to the expansion project,
fine tuning the revised floor plan of approx. 9,100 sq. ft., and working through all the estimated construction costs
in preparation for the Finance Committee to be able to approach lending institutions.
During this process, the revised floor plan has been submitted by Eric Hepler (see Current Floor Plan) and the
revised Master Plan has been submitted by Andrew Bowman from Balzer (see Master Plan).
Aug. 4
Building Team Meeting. The meeting tonight consisted of going over every line item that Neil Palmer presented
last week. Eric Hepler was a big help in explaining the costs and looking at ways to get the project back "in
budget." Many options were discussed, one being cutting the square footage and getting back into the
9,000-10,000 square feet area. Tasks were assigned to different Building Team members to work on figures and
cost cutting measures prior to the next Building Team meeting. All options need to be addressed and weighed.
July 28
Building Team Meeting. Neil Palmer form Century Construction has been working on preliminary cost estimates
for the project. These estimates were based on the existing square footage that is being represented in the most
current floor plan (which is now up to almost 12,000 square feet). Neil had a line item for everything from clearing
the trees at the house next door to the furniture that is needed once the church is completed. Based on the
present plans, Neil's figures showed that we are approximately $500 -600,000 over budget (using the goal of
$1.1M).
July 21
Building Team Meeting. Eric showed us the recent changes that we agreed on at the last meeting. Everything
looked good except for the location of the door coming out of the Chapel into the Sanctuary. The Building Team
thought is would be more useful to have a set of double French doors at this location, opening out into the
Sanctuary. Eric will be making the appropriate changes. The next Building Team meeting with Eric will consist of
seeing the exterior elevations, window placement, and all the roof lines...it's getting exciting now.
James Browne and Dan O'Neal once again presented various options from a video and audio perspective. James
will be checking on the most current types of video projectors along with different types of consoles to house the
equipment at the rear of the Sanctuary.
June 18 & June 30
Building Team Meetings. Working on interior design and floor plans. Looking at all options for the Sanctuary
design and location of the designated Chapel. Eric showed us the recent changes. We still want to add another
stall in the Ladies Room (will use the space that was designated for exterior closet outside of bathroom). Still
need to locate a space for the audio / video equipment at the rear of the Sanctuary.
June 11
Building Team Meeting. Subcommittees reported back as to the requests and desires of their groups that they
were assigned : Anne Purser & John Rayfield - Kitchen design, Susan Cullen - educational / classroom needs,
Vicki O'Neal - all offices, work stations, Minister office, and much more, Tom Layman - musicians and stage
layout in the Sanctuary, and Ayer Chamberlin - Chapel design and Chaplain needs. Much more discussion is
needed on all of the above items. We're meeting again next week to fine tune various things.
May 14
Building Team Meeting. Another exciting meeting with Eric going through the floor plans of the new church. Eric
moved some walls around since the last meeting. Some items of note:
* The church office now has a glass wall with great visibility to the lobby and front door.
* Folding glass doors at the Fellowship Hall allowing for large events to "pour out" into the hallway
for additional space.
* Staircase to the attic allowing us to create storage rooms for various purposes.
From here the Building Team will be interviewing the various Department Heads of the church to fine-tune the
room spaces and specific needs. The floor plans will continue to change every 2 weeks until we have the finished
layout and design that we are happy with.
April 30
Building Team Meeting. Excellent meeting tonight. Eric showed us more details of where the various rooms
would be located in the new church. He was also able to generate some exterior elevations showing the
approximate exterior dimensions of the building and the roof lines.
The Building Team has also been looking at different exterior facade possibilities. The one look that the majority
of us like is that of an Arts & Crafts Era. This form of architecture occurred during the 1920's -1930's and was
composed of stone, stucco, and wood materials. There are many houses in Bon Air and Richmond that reflect the
Arts & Crafts architecture. Attached are some pictures of a newer building with semi Arts & Crafts feeling
(pictures).
March 25
Building Team Meeting. Had a very exciting meeting tonight. Eric Hepler, the architect, was able to attend the
meeting and brought along with him a schematic design of the new church. These schematic designs are not
showing specifics but more so where the different functions of the church will be located. The sanctuary will be
located at the rear looking out into the Meditation Gardens, the kitchen and Fellowship Hall will be on the LH side
with exterior doors opening out to a terrace (and walk-way from front of church to Meditation Gardens), the
bookstore and offices will be on the RH side of the main foyer, and the Education wing will be on the rear RH side.
Feb. 15
Membership Meeting, 12:45 PM. There was a tremendous turnout for this meeting, people wanted to hear more
about the vision of building a new church behind the existing church. Both Eric Hepler and Neil Palmer made
excellent presentations (see pictures). Both men spoke about their qualifications and the past church projects
that they have completed and worked together on.
Eric and Neil also talked about the challenges of trying to add on to the existing structure and why it would be
more cost-effective to consider building a new church. They also discussed all the advantages of new
construction, including (but not limited to) : slab construction (everything on one floor, no stairs, no elevator, no
ramps), new energy efficient heating and cooling systems, better insulation package, the chance to use
environment friendly "green" construction materials, and the huge advantage of staying in the existing building
while the new structure is being built out back.
After the initial presentations, there was a questions and answer session with many of our members asking very
good questions. After all the questions where answered, the members in attendance were then asked to vote.
The vote totals were 78-2 in favor of having Eric Hepler to be hired as the architect to design new plans for a
church to be built behind the existing building and for Century Construction to be the Builder on a design / build
basis.
Feb. 11, 2009
Building Team Meeting. Tonight's meeting was spent preparing for the upcoming Membership Meeting on Feb.
15th. Eric Hepler, architect, and Neil Palmer, Century Construction, are both scheduled to make presentations at
the Membership Meeting. These two gentlemen will be presenting their reasons why the church membership
should consider to build a new church behind the existing church. The Building Team also had to work out the
proper language to be used for the ballot that the membership would be voting on.
At the meeting tonight we also discussed the sample chair program that two different manufacturers are offering
to us. These two companies, Church Chair (Rome, GA) and Fellowship Chair (Victoria, VA) would each like to ship
us a free chair to start trying out in the sanctuary. The Building Team decided on the style of the chairs and the
colors of the fabrics. These would not necessarily be the final colors and patterns to be used in the new
sanctuary. These two chairs are strictly sample chairs to determine the quality and comfort between the two
manufacturers. Both chairs will be used in the sanctuary as soon as they arrive and everyone will have a chance
to sit in one or both of the chairs during the next 40 weeks or so (until the time comes as to when we need to
decide on which manufacturer to order from). Survey sheets will be positioned under both chairs for people to fill
out after each service. We want to get everybody's opinion as to which chair is more comfortable.
Nov. 25
Building Team Meeting. Discussion as to how everyone felt about the presentation that Eric Hepler (the architect)
made at the Board meeting last week. This Board Meeting was a joint meeting with the Building Team so that
everyone could meet Eric Hepler and to hear his presentation.
Everyone on the Building Team was very impressed with Eric. He was very much aware of all the issues that our
church expansion needs to address. He also felt confident about designing a new church (to be built behind our
existing church) and to have the cost come in at the same budget we had originally earmarked for the expansion
of the existing building. Eric mentioned that approximately 80% of his architectural business is designing new
churches and various church expansions. Eric is very active in his church, he lives in the Bon Air area, and he is
just simply a very nice person. Hopefully in the near future our entire congregation will get a chance to meet and
to hear Eric Hepler.
The Board of Directors was very impressed with Eric as well. Eric was asked to work up a proposal as to what he
would charge to design a new church that would be built behind the existing church. In order for Eric to do a
proposal, he asked the Building Team to create a
"wish list" of rooms needed in the new church along with the approximate sizes for each room. Our meeting
tonight was to do exactly that. See the attached "wish list."
As one will see, this "wish list" totals up to 8,187 sq. ft. But when adding in hallways, closets, and other storage
areas, we're probably going to be in the 9,000 sq. ft. range. The size of our existing church (both floors combined)
is 3,800 sq. ft. Using these two figures, the new church
will be almost 2 1/2 times larger that the existing church. Yeah God.
Nov. 8
Please read Oct. 23 information before reading this post of Nov. 8. Thank You.
Field Trip. The Building team and the Board of Directors had a fantastic field trip to First Mennonite Church on
Parham Rd. This is a beautiful church that Century Construction built and Eric Hepler designed. The size of this
church is 10,000 sq. ft. and it cost approximately $1.2 M (site prep cost, curb and gutter, and asphalt parking lot
costs all included in this price).
Eric Hepler has been kind enough to send us the floor plan of First Mennonite Church, click on First Mennonite
Binder (there are 3 pictures and 2 floor plans). When you open this binder up, make sure the magnification is set
at 100% on the pictures. If you want to look at things closer on the floor plans, go ahead and use the
magnification.
To see the Field Trip pictures, click on Field Trip. There are 21 pictures in this grouping, so make sure you see
them all (it does take 10-15 seconds for all of these to download, be patient). Also, on most of the Field Trip
pictures there's a little yellow note pad positioned somewhere in the picture. You can click on this yellow note
pad and a comment will pop up explaining what you are looking at.
All of this is very exciting, but everyone needs to remember that at this point it's all just a "possibility." The
Building Team will be talking with Century Construction and Eric Hepler in the next several weeks to get into more
details. We also will need to talk with Chesterfield County to see if it's feasible. The County is already in the
process of approving our original Master Plan that included all 3 Phases of our church expansion. Building a new
church behind our existing church fits inside our original footprint that we submitted to the County several
months ago.
We welcome all comments from everybody concerning this possibility. Click on Contact (to the left) and send us
some feedback. Thank You.
Oct. 23
Meeting with Century Construction. Cheryll and Rusty met with Neil Palmer from Century Construction and Eric
Hepler, an independent architect who works closely with Century Construction. Century is considered the
premier church building firm in the Richmond area. For more information on Century visit
www.centuryconstruction.com Make sure you click on the Religious Facilities page on their website to see an
impressive picture display of many Richmond churches that they have built or modified.
This meeting at our church with Neil and Eric was very enlightening. We showed them our proposed expansion
plans, we talked about all the needs of the church, and we discussed some concerns we had of attaching
expansion wings on three sides of our church. We also gave them a tour of our property and a walk through the
Meditation Garden.
Neil Palmer felt that our plans offered some challenges on several fronts : tying in the new sanctuary expansion
roof to the existing "stick built" roof, installation of an elevator at a reasonable price (he mentioned that it might
run in the $80M -100M range), re-working the existing heating and cooling system to tie in with the new HVAC
systems that would be needed, plus having to deal with the floor elevation differences on the ground floor (the
new church expansion floors would be 24" deeper giving more head clearance and allowing for space needed to
run the new HVAC ducts in the dropped ceilings of the new expansions)..
From a design and planning standpoint Eric Hepler talked about some of the issues that he saw would still exist
even after our expansion was finished:
1. The height of the front brick steps is very intimidating. Eric mentioned that we have no idea as to how many
potential new church goers might have pulled up in our parking lot, only to turn around and leave after seeing the
demanding front steps.
2. The L shape of the new sanctuary is not the best layout. Eric fully understands that we have side property line
set-back limitations to work within (which created the L shape to get a 175 seating capacity).
3. The basement maze of hallways and classrooms is not conducive to attract new younger families (and their
kids) to our church. Eric mentioned that the growth of the younger family population in any church is a direct
correlation to the future stability of that church.
Eric and Neil both agreed that our church monies might be better spent and that we would get more "bang for the
buck" to consider new construction. Century has recently completed some new churches in the $110-115 per
sq. ft. range. After seeing our incredible Meditation Garden they immediately visualized a new sanctuary looking
out onto the gardens. The concept that they would like for us to consider is to build a new church behind the
existing church, continue to hold services in our existing building until the new church is completed, and then
remove the existing building 100%.
Here are some additional thoughts that they brought up :
* The new sanctuary would be located at the rear lower parking area. The back wall of the sanctuary would
consist mostly of glass looking out into the Meditation Garden. Seating capacity in the new sanctuary would be in
the 175-200 range.
* There would be no stairs, no ramps, and no elevator. The entire new church would be built on one floor (slab
construction). Here's a fascinating fact about our current topography around the church : the elevation at the
front parking spaces by the front sidewalk is almost the same elevation as the rear gravel parking lot near the
woods (there's only a 1' difference in this distance of almost 200'). What this means is that the entire floor of the
new church would be the same elevation as the existing front parking spaces.
* The new building would incorporate all the newest materials in "green" construction, along with the most
energy efficient heating and cooling systems on the market today.
Needless to say, the Building Team is very interested in this new possibility that Neil and Eric have brought forth.
To further investigate this vision, a "field trip" has been organized for the Building Team and Board of Directors to
visit one of the recent church projects that Century Construction and Eric Hepler have completed. We will be
visiting First Mennonite Church on
Nov. 8th.
Aug. 5 & 21, 2008 Sept. 2 & 16, 2008 Oct. 9 & 23, 2008
Building Team Meetings. The addition of Vicki O'Neal to the Building team has been a tremendous asset. Vicki
brings with her interior design knowledge and the ability to a develop plans via the CAD system. With Vicki's
expertise, we are able to more walls around on the computer and to try different scenarios for the building plans.
This has allowed the Building Team to look at many options in the effort to come up with the "perfect" plans for
the present
and near future needs of our growing church.
July 17, 2008
Building Team Meeting. Had an excellent meeting tonight. With recent comments and concerns from church
members, we're now looking at the possibility of two major changes (from the most recent plans that many
people have seen).
1. A more "user friendly" location for the 3 person elevator. Just getting to church for a handicapped person is
enough of a challenge, we don't want them facing another challenge getting into the sanctuary from our parking
lot.
2. Re-defining how the upstairs kitchen is to be used. We're now leaning towards having a "galley kitchen"
upstairs that will strictly be used for Fellowship coffee and light refreshments after the Sunday services. This
kitchen in all probability would not have a stove but rather a large microwave (used to re-heat items if necessary).
This galley kitchen would also have a dishwasher. The kitchen design and storage will be based totally upon the
needs to service the Fellowship coffee, with traffic flow being of utmost importance. The large gathering area for
the Fellowship coffee will consist mostly of the smaller 42" tall bistro type tables that people would stand at.
There would be no chairs in this area for people to "camp out." Chairs and tables would be out on the deck for
people to sit if they so desired. No eating or drinking would be allowed in the Sanctuary whatsoever.
The downstairs kitchen and Fellowship Hall is being re-designed to accommodate larger crowds and events:
thing's like quarterly "pot luck" dinners, social events (dances, movies, Bingo, etc.), and special events like
Papa's Spaghetti Dinner. The large Fellowship Hall would be approx.
25' X 40' and would have closets for table and chair storage. As is the case in the present set of plans, this large
fellowship hall on the ground floor opens up to the front of the church with two French doors and a covered
portico area. The AA meetings on Saturday morning would be held in this new fellowship hall.
Attached to this large fellowship hall is a full service kitchen designed to handle large functions. There would be
plenty of storage for kitchen equipment and plenty of storage for food products. This kitchen would easily
accommodate 4-5 people preparing food at one time.
As more members of our church make their thoughts known, we are listening and trying to making "everything"
work together. Change is good; the direction we're moving in is excellent. God's in charge and we all know that
everything is eventually going to be "as it should be."
July 3, 2008
Just received the new plans from Bill Laslett showing the Phase 2 plans connected to Phase 1.
Click on Phase 1 & 2 Combined Plans. Camera pictures were taken of these plans and then converted to PDF
files to get them on this website ASAP. Eventually these plans will be scanned with the proper equipment.
When you open this PDF file, you will need to scroll down to see all three pages: the 1st floor, the Ground Floor,
and the Front Elevation.
June 13, 2008
Meeting at church concerning the moving of the house next door.
In attendance: Mr. Van Garber - Habitat for Humanity
Ms. Lyn Gregory - Habitat for Humanity
Mr. Garland Curtis - Richmond Redevelopment & Housing Authority
Ms. Candice Street - Virginia Supportive Housing
Bill Laslett - Church Architect
Rev. Joyce, Rusty Rothrock, Cheryll Weis
This was a very good meeting with open discussion concerning the gifting of the house next door. The church
would like to give the house as a love offering to Habitat for Humanity for one of their needing families. The
problem that Habitat has at this time is two-fold :
1. They don't have a vacant lot that is close to our church at the present time.
2. They don't have the necessary funds to pay a house mover (approx. $40,000), plus the
additional funds needed to rehab the house once it's moved to a new location.
Habitat is more than happy to accept funds from outside sources to accomplish all of the above. In a effort to
think "out of the box" we all did some brain storming as to possible corporations or organizations who might be
interested in "saving a house" (a Green marketing opportunity) along with "helping a family".
Anyone out there that might have some contacts and / or ideas, please let us know.
May 8, 2008
Building Team meeting with Bill Laslett (our architect). Topics of discussion :
1. Rear Elevations. Bill showed us some rear elevations of the church expansion for the very first time. This
consisted of the rear gable extension of the Sanctuary that looks just like the front facade of the Sanctuary
expansion. Another gable roof for the new bathroom facilities protrudes out from the rear of the existing kitchen.
In between these two gable structures (connecting the two) is a shed roof that encompasses the kitchen and the
reception area. Please refer to the First Floor Plan to get a better sense of the spaces involved. As soon as these
rear elevations become available, they will be posted on this site.
2. Front Left Hand side expansion. With the capital campaign going so well, we had a open discussion
concerning the possibility of including the building of Phase II in with the construction of Phase I. As most people
are aware, Phase I consists of enlarging the existing Administration Office by including the space from the two
exiting bathrooms. Phase II consists of building a matching gable addition on the front left hand side of the
church. This wing would look similar in size as the right hand side sanctuary expansion but it would have
different window arrangements and a different facade. In Phase II, the new Administrative office (of Phase I)
would be turned into a new bookstore with glass windows facing the main foyer.
The new wing would consist of a good size Administrative office with individual work areas (and copier center), a
new Assistant Minister's office, and possibly enough space for a new Secretarial office that connects to both
Joyce's office and to the new Assistant Minister's office. If we could at least get this wing framed up, totally
enclosed, windows installed, exterior facade on, roof on, and HVAC installed, it would be fantastic. The finishing
of this wing would occur as money is available (after the completion of the Sanctuary expansion). The ground
floor of this wing would be left unfinished as well. It just makes sense to include this wing with Phase I, as
opposed to building this wing within a short time frame after finishing Phase I. The fact is, the church needs this
valuable space right now, not 3-5 years from now. Framing up Phase II with the Phase I construction would also
be very cost effective and would save us money (when compared to tearing out and building later).
Bill Laslett will be working on preliminary costs of this Phase II addition. The size of this wing is 775 sq ft. X two
floors = 1,500 sq. ft. Using $125 sq. ft. would be around $200,000 for a 100% completed wing. Getting footings
installed, brick & block foundation walls up, exterior walls and windows set, roof and shingles on, exterior facade
(siding), and HVAC installed...should all be less than $100,000 to do.
The plans for Phase II will be included in this website very soon. Check back often.
May 1, 2008
Our Master Plan designer, Andrew Bowman from Balzer & Associates, reports that thing's are moving ahead
nicely with the Chesterfield County Planning Department.
The County Planning review team consists of the following departments : Planning, Zoning, Virginia Department of
Transportation, Environmental, Fire Department, etc.
Andrew hopes that the final reviews will be occurring by the early part of June with final approval shortly
thereafter.
PROGRESS UPDATES - ARCHIVES
