DCT Report for the 2012 Annual Meeting

At the end of the year, we all learned that the Capital Campaign had raised $1.5 million dollars for this project! That means that many of you have made pledges that bring us tantalizingly close to being able to break ground on our new Sanctuary building.

While this amount is truly stunning (it is the most this congregation has EVER raised), it still falls short of what we need to build our original vision which includes:

• 12,000 square foot building that includes a new sanctuary with large stage, AV booth and state of the art equipment

• wall of windows with views to the wildlife habitat

• family room and minister’s prep room

• new bathrooms

• music room, chapel, library, meeting room, and storage

To view a drawing of our original vision, click here.

 

So, the DCT carefully went through our prepared construction budget for the full project and cut every corner possible in order to match the project with the $1.5 million in pledges we have received. We had to scale back quite a lot. This design still includes a new sanctuary, a foyer, and bathrooms, however many elements were altered or eliminated. Here are the changes:

• Reoriented footprint to simplify construction and reduce costs

  • Reduced connection with the courtyard

• Smaller sanctuary with smaller platform

• No wall of windows to view our wildlife habitat

• Smaller AV booth and no new equipment (booth could not be enlarged later)

• Smaller foyer and pre-function space (size could not be enlarged later)

• No family room, minister’s prep, music room, meeting rooms, or chapel

• No easy way to expand the design to fit our original vision

  To view a drawing of this scaled down design, click here.

The loss of the family room was especially hard for us to accept – First Unitarian has so many young families. Recently, it has not been uncommon for as many as 6 families to occupy the Parker Lounge during each Sunday service. And, we felt, that the congregation would be disappointed with a sanctuary lacking a large bank of windows.

While this scaled down option fits our available funding, the DCT and the Board were just not satisfied with it. Primarily because it doesn’t serve your needs as a young and growing congregation and it doesn’t enable us to stage future expansion that achieves our original vision.

So, the DCT went back to the drawing board with our architect. And we discovered that we are surprisingly close to a design that looks a lot more like our original vision.  

To view a drawing of this modified design, click here.

Here is what this modified design includes:

• 350-seat sanctuary with big windows looking onto the wildlife habitat

• Full size stage/platform, AV booth, and some new equipment

• Large foyer

• New bathrooms

• Large family room and small minister’s prep room

• Original footprint with an orientation to the courtyard

• Ready for the next building stage (i.e., add music room, chapel, library, meeting room, etc.)

Note: This design is still on the drawing board and the DCT plans to finalize it soon.

In our work with the architect on this modified design we have discovered that we can build this version of the project for just $250,000 more than our current funds. That’s just 17% more than the total already pledged (new total for construction would be $1,750,000).

The DCT is enthusiastic about this option and especially the way it leads us into the future but ultimately, the decision about our next steps was up to the congregation. Angela, Christine, and the board had been discussing the possibilities, so at the annual meeting, Christine outlined a plan for reaching this new goal and the church members present affirmed their unanimous commitment to it!

If you have any questions about the modified design, the members of the DCT are available to discuss it with you. Follow this link for a list: http://www.uuabq.org/dctmembers.html Also, watch for announcements for an upcoming Forum-type discussion.

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