UUCC Facilities Task Force
Current Status Report
Introduction
Overview We have tried to do as thorough a job as possible in examining possible solutions to our space problems. As you will see, we have tried not to let any artificial constraints limit our vision. On the other hand, we recognize that we are not experts in construction and design, and that there could be possibilities that we have overlooked, and problems with some of our design ideas that we have not recognized. The construction that we are considering involves most of the standard building trades concrete and footing work, steel beam construction, steel framing, wood trusses, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, roofing, finish work. This means that obtaining a reasonably accurate estimate of costs is not a simple matter. Rough estimates can be very misleading, as shown by our bids for something as simple as replacement windows, where bids ranged from $6400 to $11,800, an 84 percent difference, for equivalent work and materials. For this reason we are following a standard planning process for commercial buildings so that we can obtain an accurate estimate of the costs to build the addition we need. Part of that process is to hire an experienced Construction Manager (CM) to review our work and provide critiques and make suggestions. Hiring an outside expert is also part of the standard planning process for designing a commercial building. A construction manager can also provide an approach to the actual construction that would give the church more control over the project and reduce the chances of problems that could increase costs and/or slow the construction process. Planning and Construction Process The basic construction planning process for a church (or any commercial building), involves a series of steps. Phase 1 - initial work by the church will determine a strong overview of the building requirements and some ideas about how to proceed. Phase 2 - Preliminary Architectural Review, will provide the following services: 1. As is measurement and drawings of the current church . 2. Review of our specifications and plans. 3. Recommendations of changes to our plans to improve the usability of our project. 4. Recommendations of changes to our plans to reduce costs 5. Review and evaluation of code requirements. 6. Approval of a final design by the church. 7. Basic floor plan and elevation drawings for the addition and changes to existing structure. 8. Presentation of exterior appearance to the historic district board for approval. 9. preliminary estimate of costs for the project. 10. Identification of an approximate time scope of the project.
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11. Decision to proceed (or not) with construction planning. Phase 3 - The decision by the church to proceed with construction planning would result in the following actions by the CM, or others as noted: o Production of construction drawings. o Construction Drawings review and sign off. Architect must sign off non-structural and non-mechanical (HVAC, plumbing, electrical) design drawings Architect must approve Life Safety plans (Fire code, emergency exits, etc.) Structural Engineer must sign of on structural design Mechanical Engineer must sign off on HVAC, plumbing, electrical o Prepare bid packages for contractors/subcontractors Detailed descriptions and drawings of the work to be done by each contractor or subcontractor will be created. Bids will be solicited by the CM and will come from general contractors (general contractors work across several trades, and usually, but not always take on an entire project) and sub-contractors either identified by the CM or recommended by the church The general contractors and sub-contractors bidding and will be managed by the CM. o Plan detailed timeline o Prepare final construction cost analysis based on final bids o Construction approval based on final design and cost analysis. Approval will be by the board and church Phase 4 Construction of building. The CM will handle the following tasks: o approval of construction plans by the state and by town of Danville. o Write up contracts to be signed by contractors and sub-contractors The actual contracts would be signed by a designated church member. o Schedule contractors and sub-contractors work o Schedule timely delivery of materials o Oversee the building permits o maintain open lines of communication with the representative(s) of the church o Oversee work Drive work schedule and assure timely delivery of materials Check work in progress Require poor workmanship to be repaired or redone. inspect final results to see that the work is properly done and of good quality Approve contractor/subcontractors TO bill at satisfactory completion of work. Recommend (or not) payment of invoices from contractors and sub-contractors Manage and report on budgets, schedules and change orders. Keep church representative(s) apprised of ongoing status, issues, problems, resolutions and other concerns. Develop final punch list and see that all items are inspected Final inspection and building release for occupancy
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Recommendation and Follow Through
The facilities Task Force has completed tasks required to proceed to the Preliminary Architectural Review, and the board has approved hiring Tom Connerley to do a Preliminary Architectural Review.
Status
Meeting Task Force Requirements what we plan to do. Please remember that these are by no means final in terms of what we do. And in fact you will find in reading through this that there are places where we present options rather than conclusions. And even where we present conclusions, they are cast in modeling clay, so to speak easily adjusted as need be. We are charged by our charter with establishing a route to a UUCC facility that has the following attributes. We have noted in italics our solution to each charge: Fellowship Hall to seat 80 to 100 people Upstairs addition as planned would seat 95 people for dinner service, and for a meeting would seat 135. This calculation used 12 square feet per person for meeting seating, and 15 square feet per person for dining seating. Seating for Coffee hour would probably seat more than seating for full dining but less than meeting seating. Sanctuary to seat 120 people and/or plan for two services Sanctuary as planned below will seat 108, or by the 80 percent rule would be full at 86. For dinner service the sanctuary would seat 90 (with pews removed, and serving in the overflow room). Very recent discussions with the board and with Rev Lynda have us reconsidering moving the alter to the Southwest corner of the sanctuary, which would allow for seating of some people in the overflow room. Note that seating in the overflow room however will require the ministers and administrative offices to be placed outside in an adjacent building or else both in the space that is currently the kitchen, which would then require that the RE office and storage go to what is now the Spirit Play room. We have also considered installing an HD video camera which would hook to a large screen TV to be placed in the overflow area. Other Plans for handling additional people include meeting for services in the Fellowship Hall and going to two services. The task force has not yet investigated in detail the issue of going to two services. This issue needs significant further investigation and discussion. Secure private office for the minister Our first preference for the Ministers office is somewhere in the current building. Probably the best choice, because the admin, ministers and RE offices should be close together to encourage good communications is to put the ministers office in the East two thirds of the kitchen, and the admin office in the west third. The RE office and storage would then be in the current spirit play room (minus a new restroom in the Northwest corner) The only other in building option that presents itself is to put the ministers office in a corner of the overflow room, however this is not close to the admin and RE offices. The remaining possibility is to purchase one of the outside facilities that are expected to become available in the near future1. The ministers, and the admin
The apartment buildings across from the church (Northeast corner of Jefferson and Clinton) is in bankruptcy. Jim Ferrell indicates that the property has been assigned to a realtor, but not yet listed. A
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offices could move to this facility, but again, this separates them from the RE office. If we were to decide to purchase such a facility, it could also be used for high school RE classes, perhaps middle school RE classes, and/or for a conference room, opening up additional space for the RE program. Office for DRE to include RE storage Office and storage for DRE would either be in the existing kitchen or in the existing spirit play room (minus space in the spirit play room for an additional restroom). Note the discussion of the Secure Private office for the Minister above. 5 RE classrooms that can also be used for committee meeting space, rentals and other uses 2 of these classrooms would be the existing classrooms, and an additional three would be constructed in the current toddler space/Fellowship Hall. If we are successful in acquiring outside space, we may move senior high RE to an outside building, which will allow a finer break down of the school grades into the five available RE rooms, which will be especially useful as we grow. Note that we do not consider a conference room for the senior high RE to be appropriate, as at this age, they want their own space that they have control over in terms of decorating, putting slogans on the wall, type of furniture, etc. To not give them these things is to significantly slight our Senior High RE program. Completion of necessary maintenance, repairs and improvements as identified by the Building and Grounds Committee: The Buildings and Grounds committee thought that they had the leaks on the east wall of the sanctuary repaired, however the recent rains indicated otherwise. We are looking into this at this time. In the lower areas, we consider the mold problem fixed, with the exception that we need to make minor roof repairs before winter and before repainting the walls. The Grant sub task force has been put on hold for a grant for doors and lintels. Due to construction questions that may impact what we do with lintels and windows, we are changing our project for this years Danville exterior grant to replacement of the windows around the Clinton Street entrance to thermopane, and repairing or replacing the doors. It should be noted that the water that has come into the RE and Fellowship spaces, has not come from the lintels, but from roof leaks. ADA accessibility to all spaces Plans include installation of a wheelchair lift to meet accessibility requirements. We are currently looking at various options for an ADA compliant wheelchair lift. We believe we can get the cost for this lift below $20,000, not including building construction necessary for installation. Task force lists Proposed options to be detailed in a report that includes:
search of apartments for sale turned up one double that is similar in size to the property across the street (1476 sq. ft. versus 1800 sq. ft. across the street), and that is priced at $85,000. The building to the East of the church, where many of our members park on Sunday mornings, is also going to be for sale. The gentleman who owns the property has other property for sale that he wants to dispose of before he sells this property. The property will be listed by Jerry Vornholt. Jerry has indicated that the current owner is not willing to figure a price for the property until his other property has sold. Jerry suggested that, if we think we want the property, we make an offer and see how the owner responds.
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o Costs supported by estimates from appropriate contractors We will have a preliminary estimate based on a thorough review of our construction requirements, with some input from contractors, at the completion of the Preliminary Architectural Review. We currently have seat of the pants estimates from two sources that put us between $200,000 and $250,000. To put this in context we have a rough estimate (a little better than a seat of the pants estimate) of $500,000, not including lot, for a new building that includes a large multipurpose meeting room but no sanctuary. o Current Timeline for completion and interim use plan Timeline for completion sees us ready for construction in April on 2013, and construction completed in September of 2013, as noted elsewhere in this document. Interim use plan will also be found elsewhere in this document, but is not complete because of uncertainties around how long we will be out of the existing downstairs. These uncertainties will be resolved well before construction starts. o Capital campaign needs or alternatives to pay for plan We have begun these investigations and set several directions but much work remains in this area. o Identification of how each option meets the goals of the COP The COP is a vision statement, and as such, facilities do not directly meet COP goals. However there is obviously much in the nature and quality of our facilities that enables us to pursue the goals of the COP. The mission statement indicates, among several other things, that we come together. The facility is obviously where this happens. The changes we are recommending will, we believe, bring us as close as is possible, at our Jefferson Street address to providing the necessary space for meeting COP requirements. Church Values requires that we be environmentally responsible and respect and honor the worth and dignity of everyone. Some aspects of what we are planning will reduce our carbon footprint, and we have identified other aspects that are not mentioned in this document that will allow us to do more work in this direction. We have in the past not done well in welcoming those who are differently abled, due to the lack of accessibility of our building. This project will do an excellent job of remedying that problem. We will move towards our vision by having a larger and more attractive meeting space for bringing in outside people and groups for religious, cultural and social justice activities in the county, by providing better Life Span Religious Exploration through better Religious Exploration facilities for children and improved meeting space for members and visitors, by improving the office space for the minister and by making our facility accessible and more green. o This facility and property simply does not have the space to meet all of the needs of the COP. The expansion of this facility is a stepping stone to fully meeting the COP. The goal of this task force is to bring this facility to a state where it can support a church membership that can afford to build the building we want. If we remain the dynamic welcoming and giving church that we are today, we may well find ourselves planning our new building sooner than we expect!
Detailed Status of Work
Our decision process and technical details in determining what we plan to do.
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Structural Work: With the help of our structural engineer, Dan Johnson, we have come to the conclusion that any use of an added second story requires the reinforcing of the beams in the ceiling of the existing RE and Fellowship Hall. We currently have one quote for this work for just over $14,000. Location of RE and Fellowship: We have also determined that it is appropriate to leave RE downstairs and move the Fellowship Hall upstairs. Fellowship remaining downstairs leaves us with a cramped space that feels closed in and is not large enough to meet our needs. The need for reinforcement of the beams encourages this decision, as there is no structural cost savings associated with leaving the Fellowship Hall downstairs. RE also ends up with a larger space by staying downstairs. Upstairs Addition: This would include a cathedral ceiling (using scissors trusses), the height and pitch of which would be limited by the geometry of the intersection of the addition roof with the existing church roof. The South and North walls of the addition would be 10 feet tall. There would be one or two restrooms in this area, at least one which will be ADA compliant. Downstairs: Religious education would remain in the downstairs, using the existing curtained two rooms, with the current Fellowship Hall divided into three additional rooms. One or two of the dividers in the three new rooms might be curtain dividers, according to the preference of the RE director and committee. Either the current Spirit Play area or the kitchen area, (The kitchen would be moved upstairs), would become the RE office and storage. The other would become the administrative office, or the kitchen might become two offices, one administrative and one for the minister. An additional restroom would be added in the Northwest corner of the current Spirit Play area, and the new restroom would be ADA compliant. If we are able to move the admin office to an outside facility, then the current spirit play room would probably become church storage. Kitchen: The kitchen would be moved upstairs into the current office, and would be somewhat smaller. The existing cabinets would be moved upstairs, with new countertops. There would be a pass through into the Fellowship Hall and perhaps into the sanctuary. The floor in the kitchen would be at the addition level. The South window on the East wall would become a pass through to the addition, and the North window would become a doorway between the addition and the kitchen. We do not feel that it is necessary to have a doorway from the kitchen to the sanctuary, as it is only a few steps into the addition and around into the sanctuary. Whether or not to put a pass through from the kitchen to the sanctuary is still under discussion. If we were to put in a kitchen to sanctuary pass through, it would be at 2 1/2 feet (30 inches) in the kitchen and 4 1/2 feet in the Sanctuary area, due to the floor height difference. Conference Room: Our preference for a Conference Room would be to move it to an outside building. If we should put a Conference Room into the existing church it would be taken out of the Northeast corner of the Overflow room, and would include the current library. The conference room is not a Task Force requirement, but is a nice to have. Ministers Office: Our first preference for the Ministers Office is in the current building, ideally with the admin and the RE offices nearby. We are considering putting the Ministers office in the East two thirds of the kitchen, with the admin office in the west third. The RE office and storage would be in the current spirit play room (minus space for a second downstairs restroom). These are somewhat smaller spaces then we would
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prefer, and also darker (no natural light). The only other option in the building is to put the ministers office in a partitioned part of the overflow room. This separates the ministers office from the admin and RE offices, which is not good. Lift: We are currently looking at two possible sources for a wheelchair lift. This will be an open lift which would run in a shaftway (you would see the walls go by as the lift goes up and down). We believe we can get the cost for a lift, minus the construction costs in the building, to around $20,000. See New Entryway below. New Entryway: We are leaning heavily towards a small entry addition on the South side of the current ministers office in the space now occupied by the butterfly garden. This entry would provide wheelchair access directly into the building from the parking lot. The parking lot is only 15 inches below floor level in the ministers office. This space would also contain the wheelchair lift, which would open into the south end of the west wall of the new RE area, into the new entryway room at the sanctuary level, and at the South end of the West wall of the new Fellowship Hall. The cost of this addition will be partially offset by the avoidance of cutting one of the holes in the brick wall for the lift exit. This small addition (roughly 10.5 by 23) would contain the wheelchair lift, and could be entered from the parking lot by either steps or an ADA compliant wheelchair ramp. Creating this entryway provides an air lock so that the heat or cold does not directly enter the building with visitors, provides an ADA complaint entry from the parking lot, provides doors large enough to exit the building carrying a casket, and increases available space inside by moving the lift outside of the envelope of the existing church. The West part of the current Ministers admin office would become a hallway for transit between the new entry and the current overflow room. There may be space on the West side of this hall for 15 feet of coat racks, if we move the wall between the office and the alter alcove to the west . This scenario would eliminate the inset in the dais and move that space into the hallway. There would also be a covered walkway from an exterior door above the downstairs emergency exit in the second floor into this new entryway. Construction Issues: There are two scenarios for approaching the use of the building during construction.
The ideal approach would have the downstairs available until after the upstairs is complete. This option is
contingent upon the CM and contractors being able to figure out how to keep the vast majority of the water out of the downstairs while the roof is off and the upstairs is under construction. The (soon to be) CM thinks that this can be done, but is still working on exactly how it would work. The first construction would have the footings for the columns (in the downstairs) done during one week, with the downstairs being available the following weekend. We would have to move everything to the walls and cover it to keep the dust out. The following week sections of the ceiling would be removed, the steel would be brought in, columns erected, and beams put up to support the upstairs floor. This work would be completed during the second week. What to do with the ceiling after this work is completed is at this point undetermined. With the columns and beams installed downstairs, the church could return to using the downstairs as before, and work upstairs could commence. The completion of the upstairs would provide a large open space for both Coffee Hour and RE to operate in while the downstairs construction is completed. The kitchen will be moved upstairs when the construction downstairs restarts.
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If it is not possible to keep water out of the downstairs during construction of the upstairs shell, then we will have to go to our second option. At the same time construction starts downstairs to reinforce the floor, and roof tear off and construction will start upstairs to get the second floor constructed and watertight. The time to get the supports in downstairs and the upstairs water tight will determine how long we will have to function in only the sanctuary space. If this is a relative small amount of total construction time we will leave the kitchen downstairs, and make do as best we can, as we will be back in the downstairs in a relatively short time. If this is a longer time then we will, before construction starts, create the kitchen space in the south 2/3rds of the current office, including roughing in electric, plumbing, etc., and as soon as construction is ready to start we will uninstall the kitchen cabinets, etc. and move everything from the kitchen upstairs with new countertops. We will then operate out of the sanctuary level until the shell is enclosed and we can get back to the downstairs. We will put in some temporary facilities in the kitchen until upstairs construction is complete, at which time we will convert the current kitchen to whatever space we have decided that it is to be. Church business while construction is in progress: If we have to move out of the downstairs for a considerable length of time and operate completely out of the sanctuary space, we may remove the pews from the sanctuary and put them into storage so that we can use the sanctuary space in a more flexible way. As the floor system in the sanctuary is not rated for multipurpose (read open) space, in order to remove the pews we must do some reinforcing of the sanctuary floor in the sanctuary crawl space if we are to remove the pews. This work is designed, but has not yet been quoted. It is the preference of the task force that at least some of the pews be removed and replaced with chairs, although this opinion may change based on the cost for reinforcing the Sanctuary floor. If we can have the sanctuary operating with chairs, we can put tables back up after the service for coffee hour. RE could try to operate a series of field trips, and/or meet with smaller children in the overflow room until construction in the downstairs is complete, or we could plan for children in the service (see article in UU World, Summer 2012. [Link] We might also have a Sunday or two over the summer when we have a revival meeting at a large shelter in one of the parks. Purchase or rental of one of the apartments across the street could also provide temporary RE housing. Time Estimates: Our best estimate, if we can get things moving and keep them moving, is that we can have construction drawings complete and be ready to start construction in early April, with construction complete sometime in September. This may not be realistic from a church operations point of view, however the task force feels that it is extremely important for the church to start construction sometime next summer if this is at all possible. Flexibility: Once construction is complete, with the kitchen set up for two openings, one into the Sanctuary and one into the Fellowship Hall, it becomes possible to have the service in the sanctuary and the coffee hour in the New Fellowship Hall, or the service in the new Fellowship Hall and the coffee hour in the sanctuary. Operating without the pews for a few weeks during construction well help us to decide whether or not we want to reinstall some or all of the pews. Many churches, at first resistant to removing pews, say that they cant imagine going back to them. Our plan for construction gives us the opportunity to experiment with not having pews while retaining the option to put back some or all of the pews if we so desire.
Funding Options
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Grants: Our Grant subcommittee is looking into a variety of grants. Chalice lighter grants are oriented to congregational growth. We could aim the Chalice Lighters grant at the Wheelchair lift, or even at accessibility options, which could include part of the new entry, as this is the type of project Chalice Lighters likes to pursue. Increasing accessibility (becoming ADA compliant) allows us to grow in serving an underserved population. The Unitarian Universalist Funding Program (UUFP) provides grants for, among other things, strengthening UU institutions and community life. Live Oak UU Church Endowment gives grants for debt reduction, bridge financing, and matching funds for other grants. We are also looking at grants for efforts to make the building more green, other UUA and UU related grants, and other grants from foundations and other organizations. Real Estate: Our Real Estate subcommittee is watching for properties for sale that might be suitable to purchase and simply move the church, thus avoiding the trauma of construction, and is also watching adjacent properties that might allow us to have reasonably priced additional space for offices and or Junior and Senior RE. As we proceed this subcommittee will obtain as accurate as possible an estimate of the what the value of the church will be after construction. We will, besides talking with local commercial Real Estate Agents, obtaining a pre construction appraisal for the building with the addition. This would be equivalent to an appraisal for a construction loan, and is particularly appropriate as we will likely need a construction loan for this project, unless we can get bridge financing through Live Oak (see above). Financials: Our Financials subcommittee will look into expected amount we can raise by a capital campaign, the possibility of borrowing additional funds, funds currently available, and any other mechanisms that they can identify to help obtain funds for construction.
More about Construction Management
As currently envisioned our relationship with Tom Connerley as our CM would involve the following activities in two phases. Note that the numbering starts with phase 2 because we have already completed Phase 1 Initial Review by the Church. Also note that this list is very similar to the list near the beginning of this document under Planning and Construction Process Phase 2 Preliminary Architectural Review Attend Facilities Task Force meetings and assist the committee in identifying possible ways to meet the needs we are discussing at several levels, from design parameters through construction techniques to finish details. Provide as built drawings for the existing property, including building location on lot, building floor plans, building elevations, and locations of major utility elements, including where utilities enter the building, where major appliances are located, location of electrical breaker boxes, etc.
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Review plans to identify changes that would result in saved time, reduced costs, and a more functional building. Review code issues and check changes and additions to the facility meet current code requirements. Work with a structural engineer to assure that all structural issues are identified and properly addressed. Prepare preliminary architectural drawings, including floor plans and elevation drawings. Work with the appropriate construction personnel to identify a reasonably accurate estimate of cost for the project. Identify an approximate scope of time for construction At this point the church would approve the construction of the addition (think positive).
Phase 3 Construction Planning Create construction drawings, and get review and approval by Architect, Mechanical Engineer and Structural Engineer Review construction drawings and the entire process and project. Preparation and presentation of bid packages for various sub-contractors and construtcion contractors. Oversee the building permit process. Identify prime contractors and sub contractors to bid on the project Evaluate bids and select contractors for work. Provide detailed timeline Prepare final cost construction cost analysis based on final bids Construction approval by the board and congregation
Phase 4 Construction Approval of construction documents by state and Danville Develop, present and get approved by a church representative contracts for various contractors. Manage process of construction o Drive work schedule o Attend Facilities task Force meetings and assist the committee in planning o scheduling of contractors o manage permits and inspections o delivery of materials o Require poor workmanship to be repaired or replaced o Inspect final results o Approve contractors/subcontractors to bill for work completed o Inspect final results per contractor o Sign off on contractors completion of work. o Present bills for payment to church contact o Manage and report to church contact budgets, schedules and change orders. o Develop final punch list and see that list is completed.
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o Final inspection for completion of project. In short, the CM manages the complete design and construction process, and does so as the representative of the church. The church will have a single point of contact with the CM. In our case that would probably be John, with Annie backing up when he is not available. John is more knowledgeable than Annie about construction, and John also lives much closer to the church.
Discussions with Dan Johnson, our structural engineer, lead to the conclusion that we cannot be absolutely certain that the existing structure will even support classrooms in a second floor. The science of reinforced concrete beam construction is very inexact. This combined with uncertainty about the building codes at the time the building was built, and our inability to determine the type of steel in the beams, means that our engineer is not willing to sign off on the construction, as in doing so he is stating that the building meets current code requirements. Should there be a structural problem at some later date with the building, he could be libel for the failure, and it could also affect his reputation. In Task Force discussion it was also clear that the Task Force did not think it appropriate to take even a very small risk that was not life threatening with the building, and that even if we were to decide to take such a risk, convincing the board and the congregation that this risk was worth taking would be very small.
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