New Building Design - Part 1
Sometime in the next three years, Sunset Drive will be widened. Based on previous discussions with the City, we expect that we will lose parking spaces in the front lot. To plan for this eventuality, Council began examining possible solutions two years ago.
It became obvious that until we learned what we could do for future expansion, we could not determine how we should re-design the parking lot. We had the building consultant from ELCA-MIF visit us twice and then asked for a visit from their architect. These visits and services are free to us.
The process to reach this point involved each committee drawing up "wish lists" for what they wanted to see. In January 2009, the architect visited us. Based on his actual measurements and discussion with leaders and then an open meeting with congregation members, he drew up a set of plans to begin our discussion.
Council has distributed these complete plans to the committees for input. We decided to present pieces of the plan each month in the newsletter. This month we will specifically address the parking proposal. This is a work in progress. So your input is appreciated.
Although we own more than 3 acres, at least half of it is unusable for building purposes. The back portion borders on a sink hole. According to the Building Consultant, we can use this portion for parking. That is what this proposed plan does.
The proposed plan allows for a space for building expansion in the future so that we won't have to revisit the parking lot issue when the time comes to build an addition. There are no plans at this time to build an addition. It is drawn here for planning purposes.
Note that we will lose one front entrance with this plan. Sadly, we will lose the trees out front but we could not find a way to save them. We are losing land and something has to be sacrificed.
By having this proposed plan, we can intelligently negotiate with the City when the time comes for them to claim their right-of-way and take additional feet of land from us. We will be using a lawyer for negotiations with them to best represent our members' interests.
We would very much like to hear your input. Please speak with Council members to ask questions and discuss this plan. Feel free to email me at zlpine@earthlink.net or call 975-6775.
Thank you for your prayers as we address this issue.
Zoe Lynda Pine, President OSLC
