Your Parish Development Committee continues to meet every Tuesday to advance the “Seize the Day” project to refurbish the church buildings.  Most meetings we are joined by our project manager Paul Reynolds of Affine Climate Solutions and Erica Wolowidnyk of EW Architecture. The team has expanded this month by the addition of Colliers MacCaulay Nichols who are now engaged to market the two future residential lots that are to be sold to fund the majority of project expenses.  Colliers are just in the early stages of their marketing program. 

We continue to wait for the District of North Vancouver to reply to our preliminary planning application for the subdivision and re-zoning of the 2 residential lots we intend to sell.  They report we should see their formal response in “a month or so”.  This will be followed by a detailed planning application from us based on the District’s response to our preliminary application.  News from our application to the federal government for a “GC Wood” funding grant is also pending. 

Our current designs and floor plans for the renovated sanctuary building were presented to the congregation following the November 3 Soul Food Sunday service and were well received.  Those sketches and floor plans will be refined and presented again after a Service early in the New Year ahead of the 2025 Vestry.  In the meantime, if you would like a personal “tour” of the current plans please reach out to Billy Garton who will be happy to show off our “homework” after a Sunday Service or during the week.  Billy can be reached through Natasha in the office or directly at 604 988-2940. 

The current “baseline” schedule for the project sees land sales completing in late 2025 with construction beginning shortly after in 2026, for completion and return to the refurbished Sanctuary building by the end of that year or early 2027.  During the 2026 construction period we and all our tenants would be housed in the existing gym and Grieg Hall building, which will be dismantled (and replaced with a parking lot) only after the Sanctuary refurbishment is done.  This baseline schedule depends upon many contingencies, including timely subdivision, rezoning and building permit approvals from the District and receipt of land sale proceeds before construction starts.  We will also require final approval of our business plan by the Diocese.   Ultimately our builder will have further input into the baseline schedule as well. 

In coming weeks we will be obtaining further cost estimates to better refine the building plans and prepare a draft 2025 budget for Parish Council and ultimately Vestry approval in early 2025.