December 31 Building Update 036
“Family Meeting Preview”
As Pastor Jenn mentioned in last Sunday’s Live Lobby, there will be an important Family Meeting (virtual) this Sunday, January 3rd at 8:00 pm. During the meeting, Pastor Jenn will lay out plans and goals for Ashley Ridge Church in 2021 and give the congregation a comprehensive update on the FOR SVL Building Project. But first, let’s review the MTD giving numbers for December 1-30th:
General Fund $43,710.98
Christmas Offering $22,273.75
Building Surge $5,698.86
TOTAL $71,683.59
In the midst of the holiday season, the building project continues to march on with determined efforts centering on Cypress Engineering completing the Schematic Design and Equip Studio flushing out the redesign made necessary by Dorchester County Zoning ordinances and regulations. Pastor Jenn will have a revised site plan that will look different than the one presented back in August for you to view and discuss during the Family Meeting. You just don’t want to miss this next exciting glimpse and evolution into the future home of Ashley Ridge Church!
The Schematic Design* which is scheduled for completion in mid January consists of three main and distinct parts: 1) the finalized Site Plan, Phase 1 and Masterplan 2) the Grading Plan and 3) the Utility Plan
*Schematic Design efforts also includes water main (extended 1,600 LF off-site), sewer lift station (650 LF forcemain to connect to existing off-site forcemain), storm drainage piping and detention design as well as erosion control and landscape architecture (Code minimum for buffers, tree islands and foundation plantings).
In addition to ongoing civil engineering work, the geotechnical investigations (soil borings) and subsequent GeoReport by Terracon was completed and submitted to Trident Construction and the church for review. A Design & Construction Team meeting was held at the church office on December 16th to go over the results of the GeoReport and redesign.
Thomas Smoak from Terracon attended the meeting via zoom and summarized the GeoReport and findings in an Executive Summary. While much of the report is extremely technical and detailed in nature, I can speak to the main point of interest to the church which would have the greatest impact on the project timeline and budget: that point being, “the quality and suitability of the excavated soil from the property (specifically the future retention pond) to be used as fill (dirt) for other locations on the property to bring the construction site up to required elevation and grade i.e. parking lot(s) and building pad(s)”
Thomas Smoak conveyed during the meeting, while the soil on the property is not ideal or optimal, like soil consisting of sandy lean clay and clayey sand has been successfully treated chemically with cement or lime and used for building projects in the area. While the cost to chemically treat the soil is TBD (To Be Determined), this is a significant development which could have a very positive impact on the building project and budget.
After the Schematic Design is completed in January, the civil engineering documents along with the GeoReport will be utilized by Trident Construction (GC) to determine their cost for the project. This is critical information to finalizing the project budget and should be available to the church by early to mid February.
Don’t miss the Online Family Meeting this Sunday at 8pm, and feel free to reach out with questions along the way!
If you would like to make a contribution to the General Fund or Building Surge, you can do so here.
Derrick Horres, Project Leader