Parking Spaces

The pre-construction parking is done! We now have more pavement for more people! We will continue to use the secondary entrance for parking off pavement. For some it's more convenient and for others it is a sacrifice they are willing to make so first time guests feel like we have room for them. Tonight our BOD meets to review the bids for the construction. With firm bids we are now able to approach lending institutes to get the necessary financing. There is no new news on the platting of our property and this is the next hurdle.

Rain, Rain go away...

...come back when our parking lot is finished. The rain has delayed the completion of our parking lot. The only thing left is to put down tar and asphalt, install tire stops, and striping. Soon we will have this much needed additional space! (We've had 70 cars parking on the grass.) Our water issue appears to be resolved. We don't have anything in writing but we have been given a workable solution verbally. Now our civil engineer is working up the design in AutoCAD. There are still some hoops to jump through with the city of Cibolo and it could take up to 90 days for the solution to be official and to get our plat recorded. The Board of Directors (BOD) will meet later this month to review our Bids that were submitted to the architect last week. Stay tuned and I'll keep you posted.

Hey Bidder Bidder, Bidder...

This week our project is finally going out to bid! This means seven general contractors will give us their competitive bid to build our Phase One construction. This is a huge accomplishment. The bids will come back the first half of September. The water issue still isn't settled yet. While this will hold up construction it won't hold up bidding. Until now all cost estimates have been speculative based on the square footage. We have been anxiously awaiting this stage. It is nice to have some traction lately. We are making progress on parking and now on the bidding. Hopefully the next place we will have traction is getting an affordable water solution for our site.

Paving the way toward expansion

We signed a contract this week to get our parking expansion rolling. You might have noticed the change in overflow parking last week and this will continue for a few weeks. We anticipate if weather cooperates to have our additional parking in place around the 1st of August. This will also include the water detention dam in the lower area of our property. Concerning the new worship center construction we are still working on a solution for water supply. We have been given a cost analysis to get a greater supply of water from both Cibolo (our current water provider) and Schertz. Our greatest need for water is safety in case of a fire. We also have to comply with the current regulations for GPS (Gallons Per Second) based on how our buildings are coded. As soon as we settle this we can get our plat registered. Once our plat is registered we can apply for the building permit. Thank you for continuing to ask about where things stand. Your interest is encouraging! August and September are going to present the phase of our growing pains as we will experience larger crowds than we ever have before. Keep inviting and we will keep making room for more. Lets change some lives!!!

The Latest

Our architectural plans are still being reviewed by Cibolo. Our plat review hasn't officially begun yet. Additionally, we've been looking for an alternative solution to supply our water needs. The talks have only been preliminary at this point. The parking expansion - I really am surprised at the hoops we are having to jump through for pavement. We've had two different reports indicating that we would have already started (if not completed) adding nearly 60 parking spaces. The news we received last week says we are still 2 weeks away from starting. If we aren't dealing with bad weather the parking expansion should take four to five weeks from start to finish.

Join me in praying for these various phases. I'm learning more about commercial construction than I would even want to know. The delays are taking their toll, but I'm beginning to think there are more delays ahead than I can predict. Thank you for your faithful support in our BELIEVE Expansion Project. Keep the faith.

Making Headway...

The last report I shared was not a good one. We were looking at a VERY EXPENSIVE water detention system that was going to be for all practical purposes a dam. We’ve worked with the City of Cibolo and our Civil Engineer and come up with a viable solution. We had to give up some parking to the master plan but we’ve come up with a detention solution that is about 10% of the cost of the dam. Bids for immediately adding around 50 parking spaces should be back next week. Then we can pick a contractor and start moving dirt!

As for the new Worship Center we keep hitting bumps that delay, getting our Construction Documents complete. They won’t be completed in March but all signs point to the first half of April for completed documents. Then the City will review them and indicate needed code changes. Once those are back we will be able to put the project out to bid.

I’ve never been part of a commercial construction project and I am learning much more about the process than I ever thought I would. It certainly takes much more time than I ever anticipated just getting completed drawings that are ready for contractors to bid and do the work. Keep the faith and know that soon we will be seeing earth moving equipment in front of our property. I BELIEVE!

Making Progress

Progress is happening even though there are no visible signs yet. I was updated earlier today with some time-line projections. We are waiting on the civil engineer to finish all access points and flat work (sidewalks/walkways). The expected completion of this is March 5th. Then all engineers will have one final review after architects assemble the drafted construction document (this is basically the blueprints with every detail imaginable). They each get a week to identify any needed corrections. Then we finally get to put the project out to bid! If we can maintain this time-line we should have a company selected by early May.

Another aspect we are working on is adding nearly 60 parking spaces ASAP. We were crushed a few weeks ago with news of a required detention pond that would break the bank. However, we didn't give up and kept pressing to find an acceptable solution. The results are we've had to give up some of the parking plan but we still get to add around 150 more parking spaces with a minimal/affordable detention pond. I think we should have a solid plan for this to submit to the City of Cibolo around mid-March.

Keep praying for this project. You've been faithful and patient. That is a hard combination to have. Soon we will be seeing construction begin and I can hardly wait!