me full circle. We believe this design represents the most cost-efficient approach to meeting SJU’s needs, while moving significantly toward resolving our financial dilemma.
Secondly, we will present our current and projected future financial situation. Our dilemma has been balancing the impact of construction and related costs against the impact of the new building on future operating budgets. This comes down to the question of how large the mortgage loan component of construction financing should be – the larger the loan, the larger the debt servicing impact on future operating budgets; and the smaller the loan, the larger the capital
costs. Our future financial proposal will be our best effort to fairly and realistically balance the impact of debt servicing and capital construction costs.
Finally, we will present an outline of the time required for the remaining steps in completing the new building construction process.
We fully understand and share your concerns about this whole lengthy and difficult process. This has not been easy for any of us!! However, we remain fully committed to bringing the process to a successful conclusion, and we pray that you will continue your past outstanding support and confidence in our future.
For the Building Committee,
Dave Douds
From the April 2009 SJU Newsletter- At our January Annual Meeting, the congregation asked, “What is to happen with the construction of new SJU facilities?” Accordingly, the Building Committee has been hard at work to produce a concrete proposal for the May 31st report to
the congregation.
The obstacles have been substantial as the initial cost estimates of $4.2 million were beyond the reach of SJU’s resources. This was true even after the Second Capital Campaign added $317,000 in pledges to our Reserve Funds.
The Building Committee is considering alternatives such as: two phases of building to reach the final design, seeking alternative construction methods to reduce costs, and changing the floor design for efficiency. These efforts, plus consulting with many friends and professionals, are moving the Committee slowly but deliberately toward a solution for SJU’s dilemma.
At the annual meeting of the congregation January 25th Lon Chesnutt reported that we have raised $317,000 in pledges to build the new church building-far short of the $500.000 needed to start construction. The Building committee has asked for a six month extension from Howard Country to postpone construction and will ask for a second six month postponement as we study and discuss with SJRC a way to move foreword on this project.
From Sept Council meeting-The Building Committee submitted a recommendation to build the new facility in two phases. Phase One would not include the Sanctuary. Worship would be held in the Fellowship Hall. This would save approximately $712,000 of construction costs. Other options were explored but this option would have the greatest potential savings and least amount of impact on Phase Two.
Phase Two would include the Sanctuary as originally designed. A letter will be sent to the Wilde Lake RAC to inform them of our phased approach to complete the new building. This phased approach will be presented during the Congregational Meeting. The initial Building Campaign is scheduled to conclude in April 2009. There will be an extension of the Building Campaign for three years to conclude in April 2012. Groundbreaking will begin when 50% of the estimated construction costs have been obtained
From the SJU Council minutes of their August meeting -At a meeting with SJRC, a request was made for additional funding of $500,000 contribution. That request was denied. Other requests were accepted which included extending timelines for completion of building and move of our congregation from current facility. The Building Committee is also suggesting extending the current campaign from May, 2009 until May, 2012. The Committee will be holding several meetings during this week to define more specific estimate of deficit. The Council voted to conduct a special Council meeting on Monday, August 25 to review this information and plan Congregational Meeting scheduled for Sept. 21.
At a Special Congregational Meeting, held after worship on July 27th 2008, Rev. Bass, Dave Douds, and Lon Chesnutt explained the history of the project that began in 2002 and where we are now.
The 2002 proposal for a new building for SJU with financial input from SJRC based on SJU’s share of the total equity in WLIFC.
The timeline concluded with our most recent action, which was Council approval of the selection of Henry Lewis Contractors of Owings Mills as our Construction Manager for the new building. (Much of the timeline since 2006 has been detailed in this chronology.)
We have a current Balance On Hand of $475,000. A report on projected income and expense for the entire project, because of inflation over the past six years, reflected a deficit of expenses over income in the daunting amount of $1,362,500.
Rev. Bass affirmed that the SJU leadership was committed to seeing this project through.
That we would be planning an extension of the Capital Campaign and we encouraged all members and friends to submit their thoughts and suggestions on how best to proceed.
Lon Chesnutt stated that we have postponed our groundbreaking date, in view of the funding gap, to a future date.
The Joint SJU/SJRC Team met on Tuesday evening, July 29th. This team was formed as a forum for discussion of items of mutual concern throughout the SJU new building project. SJU then announced that we would commit to:
An extension of the current Capital Campaign by another 2 to 3 years,
Raising additional funds with an emphasis on upfront payment of pledges;
Consideration of a phased building approach to spread the total cost over a longer period;
Minimizing the delay in the groundbreaking date, consistent with the developing financial situation.
We then requested that the SJRC, consider segregating their remaining contribution into a CD account and adding the interest to the account balance, as a means of hedging that amount against future inflation;
That SJRC consider making an additional contribution in the project to cover inflation to the project over the past six years. to assure successful completion of our joint project;
That SJRC agree to flexibility in their application of the “three year window to complete our building” in our legal agreement of November 2006.
There will be a Congregational meeting after worship on Sunday July 27th to hear a progress report on our new building.
From SJU Council News July/August 2008-Howard County has approved the site development plan. The next step is to hire a construction company for pre-construction planning. After interviewing six companies, it was recommended to extend an offer to Henry Lewis Company from Owings Mills, MD. They will complete the pre-construction plan which includes value engineering for cost savings as well as an initial bidding process from trade companies for accurate pricing. They have built about 200 churches since 1981. The charge for this consulting is $30,000, which would be included in the building cost if they are the construction company chosen by SJU. A motion was made by Sandy Collins and seconded by Stacy Mogren to approve this pre-construction engagement with Henry Lewis Co. It is estimated that once ground is broken, it will take approximately 12 months to complete construction.
COUNTY APPROVES SITE DEVELOPMENT The Howard County Planning Board approved St. John United’s Site Development Plan on May 22 with a 3 - 0 vote that opened the way for SJU to take another step in its countdown to a new building. The approval dealt with all the work necessary to prepare the ground for a new building, i.e. water and sewer connections, grading of the land, water runoff. SJU’s site engineering company, Patton, Harris, and Rust, had prepared the proper drawings to meet the needed specifications, and the Planning Board had only a few questions and comments before voting unanimous approval.
In the public hearing, three persons spoke against the proposal and tried to raise objections to the cross on the external building, but the Board Chair said that issue was not in their purview of responsibility. Father Dick Tillman and pastor Whitty Bass had both given brief statements emphasizing a continuing inter faith cooperation and request for approval.
The next task before the Building Committee and the SJU Council is the choosing of a Construction Manager. That person would assist the Church as liaison in the final phase of planning and would also be SJU’s onsite representative when the construction phase actually begins.
The next hurdle is the meeting in the process to build a new SJU church building will with the Howard County Planning Board on May 22nd. This session will be seeking approval of the plans for preparation of the site for construction of the building, which means all the preparation for the underground work of securing water, sewage, storm water, and electrical arrangements in proper form. Members are encouraged to attend this hearing in the Ellicott Room of the George Howard Building at 3430 Court House Drive in Ellicott City at 7:00 PM on the 22nd. Building Committee Administrator David Douds said he thinks all the necessary papers and drawings for County approval have already been or are about to be submitted. But, in the long road to gaining permission to build, a glitch can occur at almost any point, and we (SJU) must be ready to respond.
Meanwhile, other preparation continues so that SJU will be ready to move ahead when the final building plans are approved by the County Department of Planning and Zoning. The Arium Inc. architectural firm has been authorized to complete the specification drawings for the new building, which means the actual drawings of where walls are to be placed, interior connections are to be made, and roofing is to be secured. All the committees who made initial plans for the interiors of the building are completing their work so that SJU will have the look and feeling desired in the advanced planning.
The Building Committee has drawn up a short list of firms that could act as the ‘Construction Manager’ for the rest of the building process. Upon selection of a firm, probably some time in May, the on-site representative of that firm will assist SJU in the final phase of securing necessary Howard County building permits, seeking bids for a general contractor to construct the building, helping the Building Committee to evaluate the bids and choose a contractor, and then be the on-site coordinator and liaison as the builder proceeds to do the work.
All of this must be underwritten by SJU’s financial means to complete the planning phase, receive the pledges from the Capital Campaign, secure a mortgage to insure payment for the construction, and include a debt-payment plan for the congregation. The Building Committee is currently engaged in developing a plan that will meet these needs. That plan is to be shared first with the SJU Council and then, in the near future, with the congregation.
SJU began this process of seeking a new congregational home as an act of faith and a trust that we were adequate to the task. As we continue on that journey, SJU needs the enthusiastic support of every member.
The “Cross” issue and the community - since the RAM report from the Wilde Lake Architectural committee was overturned by the Wilde Lake Village Board April 7 and approved the decision to let SJU build its church building as planned with the Christian Cross that will face Twin Rivers and Trumpeter Roads. There have been several stories in the local media: The Baltimore Examiner story (04.14.08) “Concerns raised as cross approved for Columbia Interfaith Center.”
The Columbia Flier story (04.17.08) “Critics say cross at interfaith center exclusionary” See: Columbia Flier story; The Flier also ran an editorial, “Balancing faith, tolerance is Columbia’s cross to bear” by Doug Miller, (05.07.08). He began the with the question, “….people who don’t live in Columbia …even though those who live elsewhere…when they hear of a controversy over a church that wants to put a cross (on its new building). After all that’s what Christians do just about anywhere ….But in Columbia it’s a little more complicated than that… …exterior religious symbols have been more or less taboo at Columbia’s interfaith centers…He concluded, “Envisioning Columbia’s big picture without a healthy dialogue about what’s wrong and right with the interfaith centers individually and as a concept would be a leap of faith we should not take.” That editorial generated several letters of comment both pro and con from the Columbia community. The Washington Post story (05.13.08) followed with the story, “Plan for Cross Shakes Columbia to Its Core Values” The following day (05.14.07) almost every local TV station news crew came and interviewed SJU members at the Wilde Lake Interfaith Center and some radio stations in the Baltimore Washington area carried the cross issue that was generated by the Associated Press.
The Wilde Lake Village Board approved the plans for St. John United’s proposal to build a new church building at Twin Rivers and Trumpter roads at the Wilde Lake Interfaith Center on Monday April 7. The Board rejected the earlier RAM decision that the cross and denominational symbols be removed and by a 3-2 vote restored these items to the plan.
The SJU Building Committee will be appealing the decision on external symbols in the RAM report to the Wilde Lake Village Board (sitting as the Architectural Committee). The SJU Appeal Meeting Search osearchu
bsearchasearchF 1stlivenude isearchr 1stlivenude so 1stlivenude y; The Flier also ran an editorial, “Balancing faith, tolerance is Columbia’s cross to bear” by Doug Miller, (05.07.08). He began the with the question, “….people who don’t live in Columbia …even though those who live elsewhere…when they hear of a controversy over a church that wants to put a cross (on its new building). After all that’s what Christians do just about anywhere ….But in Columbia it’s a little more complicated than that… …exterior religious symbols have been more or less taboo at Columbia’s interfaith centers…He concluded, “Envisioning Columbia’s big picture without a healthy dialogue about what’s wrong and right with the interfaith centers individually and as a concept would be a leap of faith we should not take.” That editorial generated several letters of comment both pro and con from the Columbia community. The Washington Post story (05.13.08) followed with the story, “Plan for Cross Shakes Columbia to Its Core Values” The following day (05.14.07) almost every local TV station news crew came and interviewed SJU members at the Wilde Lake Interfaith Center and some radio stations in the Baltimore Washington area carried the cross issue that was generated by the Associated Press.
The Wilde Lake Village Board approved the plans for St. John United’s proposal to build a new church building at Twin Rivers and Trumpter roads at the Wilde Lake Interfaith Center on Monday April 7. The Board rejected the earlier RAM decision that the cross and denominational symbols be removed and by a 3-2 vote restored these items to the plan.
The SJU Building Committee will be appealing the decision on external symbols in the RAM report to the Wilde Lake Village Board (sitting as the Architectural Committee). The SJU Appeal Meeting with the Wilde Lake Village Board will be Monday, April 7, 2008 at 7:00 pm at Slayton House
The RAM report is in. Kristin Shulder, Wilde Lake Covenant Advisor writing March 17th to break a tie vote of the RAM over SJU’s proposal to build our church building:
“I am writing to inform you that your application #18-08 to construct a new building has been approved with modifications. Modifications include removing the symbols from the back of the building facing Twin Rivers Road and Trumpeter Road and moving the two smaller symbols to the sides of the front entrance doors of the building.”
At the January 2007 meeting of the SJU Council -Dave Douds reported on recent activities related to the new building, focusing particularly on the current status of the shared parking agreement between the Interfaith Center and the Howard County Public Schools. The agreement is currently undergoing final review by the Interfaith Board (and was approved at the IFC Board meeting in January). The school system, as raised the question of student parking in the IFC parking lot, along with the related question of possible compensation by the school system for daily student use of the IFC lot. Once these questions are settled, the agreement should be completed and signed very quickly. (The Howard County Schools agreed to the parking agreement March 1st). If all goes well we are scheduled to meet with the RAC on March 11. We can then proceed with the Wilde Lake and Howard County approval processes for the new building.
In a later development the new Chair of the SJU Building committee, Rev. Lon Chesnutt reports that our architect, Steve McLaughlin, is encouraging us to go ahead and hire a Construction Manager. He also reports that our consultants at Harris Patton continue to work with and for us on the Site Development Plan.
Report of the RAC meeting October 23th Rich Parker, chair of the SJU Building committee reported on this second meeting with the RAC came after the members of the committee and SJU and SJRC representatives met at the site last week to fully understand the plans SJU is making to construct a new sanctuary on the WLIFC campus. After testimony was heard on parking concerns, the height of the new building, it set back, the religious symbols proposed and questions about its compatibility with the present WLIFC, landscaping, and construction traffic control It was agreed that the RAC would compile a list of its concerns and forward same by the end of the week. We would then reconvene next week at a date and time to be determine to try and iron out the concerns of both the RAC and the SJU building committee.
Report of the RAC meeting October 11th. Dave Douds reports that the first of two meetings was held Wednesday October 11 with the Wilde Lake Village Resident Architectural Committee (RAC) who will make recommendations to the Wilde Lake Village Board to approve the new church building that St. John United has proposed to build on the WLIFC campus. Questions were raised about handicapped parking and shared parking with the Wilde Lake High School, compatibility between the new and existing building, and the lighting of the cross on our proposed building. The RAC proposed a site visit and more discussions October 18th and a second meeting with the RAC on October 23rd at 7:30.
From September SJU Council minutes: Dave Douds reported on recent new building activities, particularly the informal meeting last Wednesday evening, September 12th, with representatives from the Wilde Lake Village Board and Resident Architectural Committee. The meeting was amicable and informative for all concerned, and resulted in a list of questions for us to answer. If that is accomplished by September 25th, the first public step in the review process, by the Resident Architectural Committee, will occur on October 9th at 7:30 pm in Slayton House.
From August SJU Council minutes: Dave Douds reported on recent activities related to the Building Steering Committee, including (1) the status and schedule for review meetings by the Wilde Lake Village Architectural Committee, (2) the results of additional geological testing, recommended by a Howard County planning engineer, which will allow elimination of a storm water management protection basin under the lower parking lot at a savings of at least $90,000, and (3) starting the process for competitive selection of a Construction Manager for the new building.
Howard County Planning Board approves our plans for a new church building! By Dave Douds, Clerk of the SJU Council
The Board unanimously approved FDP-76-A-III as recommended by the Howard County Planning Board Staff June 21, 2007. A summary of the presentations and discussions follows:
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