Campus Vision Plan and History

Campus Vision Plan  

Our collective vision of how we can transform our beloved church campus is truly inspiring!

We in the congregation have weighed in on all the ways to improve our campus, and the architect has taken those ideas and synthesized them into a more complete, long-term set of plans. The grand total cost of this investment is not small at $14.5M — but neither is our vision. That vision increases sustainability, safety, equity, and beauty for our congregation, our community, and our world for the next 75 years.

While such a transformation may seem overwhelming at first, when broken down into smaller parts, we start to work our way toward our collective goal. To that end, we have organized the overall project plan into phases.

Phase 1 will make an excellent start on our carbon-neutral goal as it replaces the Main Hall gas furnace with a heat pump HVAC system, the Main Hall gas water heater with a heat pump water heater, and the kitchen’s gas stove with electric induction ranges. (Further reduction of our carbon footprint is planned for Phases 2 and 3.)

The Core Project of Phase 1 of the plan includes:

  • Entire campus electricity system upgrade to lay the infrastructure for achieving our carbon-neutral goals
  • Full kitchen remodel to upgrade it to a commercial-style kitchen
  • Shower and washer/dryer
  • Choir room upgrades
  • Main Hall heat pump HVAC and water heater
  • Reconfigured back hallway and storage

The budget for Phase 1 Renovations is $2.6M, which includes $2M for construction costs and $.6M for professional services and permits. Construction cost for the Core Project is $1.5M, leaving $.5M for items not yet finalized.

Note that the detailed costs you find in the full Vision Plan Report are construction costs, which are called “hard costs,” and which do not include all the costs of the project. There are significant additional costs, such as an architect, engineers, permitting, and hiring a professional construction manager to represent UUCPA during the construction. The total hard cost of the entire vision is approximately $11M. Add in the additional costs, and the full cost for our vision project is about $14.5M.

As we contemplate the costs of this project, it’s important to keep in mind the tremendous opportunity we’re being afforded. This year’s fundraising campaign is unlike any other at UUCPA since the church was originally built. Now is the chance to shape our legacy. With this project, we reach out and touch the future, giving our children and their children a space in which they can continue the work we’ve been doing for the last 75 years. This is our chance to truly transform ourselves, each other, our community, and the world.

You can read the full Vision Plan Report by clicking the link below. You may send questions or comments at any time to campus@uucpa.org.

Link to the full report: Campus Vision Plan Full Architect Report

Campus Vision Project History

As part of the celebration of the 75th anniversary of our church’s founding, the Campus Vision Project was created to plan and execute a renovation of the UUCPA campus to prepare it for the next 75 years.   The Campus Vision Task Force was formed, with members Sally Ahnger, Edie Keating, Bill Hilton, Jeff Cashdollar, Barbara Smith-Thomas, Drew Oman, Kevin Crane, and Maria Almli.  After an extensive search, Karin Payson architecture + design (KPa+d) was hired as the architect for the project in the spring of 2022. At the Annual Congregational Meeting in April of 2022, the congregation approved an expenditure of $95,000 to hire an architect to conduct the project visioning.

After holding visioning workshops with the whole congregation on June 12 and with representatives of 22 committees and groups on June 25, the architect team developed a preliminary plan for what to include in the renovations.  This plan was presented to the congregation on Aug 7, and to representatives of 27 UUCPA groups on Aug 20. Input on campus needs and feedback on priorities were solicited.  Here is the presentation that was made at those meetings in August.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v8iAFXxVBmLCc2vbbVF5-JSQe5TnXxOu/view?usp=sharing

Based on all the information gathered at those 4 events, the architect team developed a comprehensive plan for the first phase of implementation and delivered it to the congregation (see “Campus Vision Plan” above).  There was a hybrid Town Hall meeting on November 13 with the architect which drew 59 participants. On November 20, a hybrid congregational meeting was held, attended by 68 members who voted overwhelmingly to continue with the project.

Here is the presentation that was made at those meetings in November.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10ZR8sFc33i4B51blAr1DIg4fmFFYVn5-/view?usp=sharing

After the congregation voted to proceed with the Campus Vision Project, the Capital Campaign consultant, Rachel Maxwell, conducted a Financial Feasibility Study, interviewing 20% of the congregation. The conclusion of that study was that UUCPA could raise $2.8M in a capital campaign. The Board decided to allocate $2.6M to the building project and $.2M to associated costs such as loss of rental income and renting alternative spaces to use for church activities during construction. The capital campaign was started with a major donor phase in January, 2023. On February 11, a gala celebration dinner was held to kick off the public phase of the campaign in concert with the annual pledge drive. From Feb 18 to Feb 26, a poll was conducted of the congregation to determine what additional features were the highest priority for including in Phase 1 of the renovations.