First Town Hall Meeting (April)
The first town hall meeting was held on Sunday, April 23rd from 12:15 - 1:15 p.m. at the Fellowship. 58 members were in attendance. A Power Point was presented which outlined the results of the Congregational Survey. After the presentation, there were myriad questions as all present attempted to take in all of the new information. Then, the members formed themselves into groups of 3-5 and discussed the following questions:
Obviously, to implement all the building requirements we have gathered would cost more than we can afford. So we would like to generate discussion around items that will have a major influence on costs. In particular, additional square footage adds additional cost—quickly. Please discuss these questions in your group and be prepared to quickly summarize at the end.
1. Both the sanctuary and a social hall are large square footage spaces. Possibilities include separate spaces for each or some combination of spaces (some separate social hall space and combined space for larger events). How would you balance the two? Why?
2. Our current sanctuary seats about 150 people. Increasing the size to 200 would give us extra room but we would still need 2 services. We would need at least 250 seats to go to 1 service. The alternative might be to continue with two or possibly three services in the future if our congregation grows. How would you propose to balance the trade-offs in sanctuary size with other needs?
3. The requirements gathering indicated several ideas for dedicated space such as for a small chapel or choir room. What dedicated spaces are most important to you? How would you balance dedicated with multi-purpose spaces?
4. Architectural design greatly impacts cost. If we were to acquire an existing building that has plenty of space but is “boxy” as many commercial sites might be (think Flatirons church), how would you feel about that? The trade off might be the traditional aesthetics of places of worship: high ceilings, creative windows, wood beams, etc.
After 20 minutes of discussion, each of the small groups reported out. That information was shared with members of the Committee and will be added to our growing list of suggestions by Congregation members.
