A lot has happened in the last month. The Building Engagement Task Force (BETF) and the Board received the timely and comprehensive Bowman Hall Task Force’s (BHTF) response to the Board’s charge to analyze options for the future use of Bowman Hall. The BHTF comprehensively analyzed the potential costs associated with four different scenarios for Bowman:

• Renovate one floor of Bowman as necessary to enhance administrative workspace and meeting rooms
• Retain Bowman as-is
• Sell the Bowman property and use the income to finance partially finance the new Fellowship Hall
• Rent Bowman as a revenue-producing asset.

The BETF and Board fully discussed the implications of the BHTF data set and came to the following conclusions:

• Keep Bowman Hall and continue to use the 2nd floor for administration.
• Have Nunn/Reynolds Ash & Assoc. (RA) collaborate to provide acceptable design alternatives so that total project costs don’t exceed our available funds, currently ~$3.3mm.
• Continue to evaluate potential uses of the first floor of Bowman. These would include a) meeting other church needs, or b) converting to a 2-bedroom apartment rental, provided such a rental will provide meaningful revenue to support UUFD’s mission.

The Board approved the following resolutions:

• Proceed to finalize conceptual design of the “Small” plan presented by RA&A. This includes constructing a new Fellowship Hall, kitchen, lobby and entrance into the sanctuary, renovating the rear of the sanctuary to accommodate better Spiritual Growth activities, and parking lot renovation and expansion as needed.
• Retain Bowman Hall for administrative functions. You can see a more detailed explanation of the reasons for retaining Bowman here.
• The Board reviewed enhancements to the second-floor administrative spaces with consideration for ADA accessibility, HVAC and security enhancements, and better workspace and meeting rooms (staged) as funds are available.
• Based on those factors, the BETF revised the guiding principles for going forward with the next phase of design. You can access the revised guiding principles here.

The next steps in our design process are as follows

• Design update proceeds with RA+A and Nunn through June. Design elements include
  • New Fellowship Hall/Kitchen 
  • New Lobby
  • Improvements to Sanctuary, Bowman, Columbine and parking lot
• Revised Conceptual Design(s?) presented to Congregation for consideration when available
• Hold as many forums as necessary to reach broad agreement on a final design.
• Further refinement of design to determine Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP)
• Early-Mid September: Congregational vote to authorize construction