Update on the Dallas visit

There were a couple of major accomplishments with today's visit to Dallas.

1. Stage Height - We've been wrestling with this for over 3 months. And we had previously been able to lower the stage height from 36 inches to 28 inches. We had to wait for a "sight line" study before we could do anything else and the speaker design for the audio system had to be worked out. (There will be some speakers built into the stage and there has to be enough height to allow for these speakers.) After reviewing the sight lines we were able to lower the stage height to 21 inches. This is great news! The lower the height the more connected the audience will feel to what is happening on stage.

2. Video Display System - This is what prompted today's visit. There had been some changes that deviated from the original vision of what we ultimately want to end up with. So most of the design here will be limited to just getting the infrastructure in place so at a later date we will be able to add a VIDEO WALL behind the band. There are too many uses for this to list here but I am really looking forward to what this will add to the worship experience.

3. House and Stage lighting - This is now our holdup before we can complete our Construction Documents. The Lighting Engineer, the Electrical Engineer and the HVAC Engineer have to re-spec the plans. When the lighting plan changes it affects the electrical needs as well as the air conditioning needs.

I didn't get a specific date for completing the construction documents but I anticipate they will be done this month. Then the hard bids will begin and after that we will work with a contractor to make some adjustments to reduce the cost of the project without compromising our needs. When the value engineering is complete and permits are in place then we will see the construction begin!

The one thing I know about this project... we need the space ASAP!

Day trip to Dallas

In the morning I am flying to Dallas for a meeting with our architect as well as our Audio/Video/Lighting (AVL) engineer. The purpose of the meeting is to settle on the AVL plan for the stage in the worship center.

I'll provide an update after the visit.

The Inside Scoop

I'm glad you've discovered the blog where I will be making updates on the status/progress of our expansion project to add our new Worship Center and expand our parking.

Here is where we currently stand.
-Parking-
We are waiting to hear back from the City of Cibolo concerning a water detention pond. This is something we were told at the first of the year we would need. It was news to us. We are working with our Civil Engineer to see if there is a way to use a more eco-friendly surface or if there is another approach we can take to eliminate or delay the need for water detention. We are praying that we can either phase in the parking plan to include water detention when we add our last phase of parking or that we can create a different parking plan that won't require the detention. After we have a final word here, we will let you know where things stand.

-Construction-
The work with the Architects to have a finalized plan to send out for hard bids to contractors should be complete by March. We had hoped to complete this before the end of the year (2009). There are several engineer specs coming from several different entities to complete these documents. We had previously anticipated a Spring start date but there have been some minor delays. It's really hard to predict at this point a start date. Once a contractor is selected and they submit our plans to the City we will have a solid understanding of a probable time line.

-In the meantime-
Keep praying for this project! Thank you for your generous support. The sacrifice will be more than worth it!