Many people in our Congregation have been asking for regular updates regarding the development of land and the building of the New Meetinghouse at 400 Louden Road. Some people read Journey Well (JW) and attend Coffee Chats, but they still lack information due to inconsistent attendance or not reading JW regularly. The purpose of this column is to keep everyone on the same page. The column will be published on our Website, JW and copies of the information will be left at the Greeters Table in the Meetinghouse. Of course, If you have any questions, you can contact any member of the New Home Task Force for clarification/information.

Approval from Saratoga Springs regarding our Building Permit.

Our Building Permit has been approved and we can begin the construction of the Building and development of the land at 400 Louden Road soon. Bast Hatfield Construction met with the City Planners and SD Atelier, our Architects developed excellent drawings and prepared the Permit application for review. This approval by the City is a major accomplishment!

Contract with Bast Hatfield Construction.

Jim Cox, our attorney, is reviewing the multi page contract proposal from Bast Hatfield Construction. Members of the Task Force and Eric Lawson have reviewed and commented on the contract. Once the attorney review is complete, and our interests are protected, we will meet with staff from Bast Hatfield to negotiate changes and compromises. When the contract language is agreeable, we will sign the contract and establish a starting date which we project will be in May/2026.

Capital Fund Collection. We need more contributions.

Recently, we received two separate, Two Hundred Thousand Dollar donations from  two couples in the Congregation. These generous donations helped put us close to the amount of what we need to pay for the construction costs. While this is great news, we still need more money to build out the Kitchen, build walls and bathroom for the RE area on the first level. You can contribute to the Go Fund Me campaign, the Matching Fund(50k) that has been established, or by placing a check in the collection plate for the Capital Campaign. These ways to donate will be particularly helpful to new attendees who may have missed the original Capital Campaign, but want to be a part of this major undertaking.

Grant Writing Underway.

Murray Penney, a member of the Task Force has contacted Paul Mastrodonato, a professional grant writer, who used to attend our Services in an effort to help us write small grants to support our New Meetinghouse. Paul is well connected in the Saratoga Springs Community and we hope his efforts will bring monetary results.

That’s it for this week. See you on Sunday.

Art Holmberg for the Task Force