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Our unusually harsh winter has given way to a beautiful spring. With a welcome sense of renewal and growth that accompanies this time of year, we want to bring you up-to-date on what has been accomplished and what remains to be done to make our permanent home a reality.
Background
The City of Rockville, which has jurisdiction over our project, spent two years revising building-related ordinances during which the City imposed a building moratorium. That moratorium prevented us from beginning the City's lengthy and complex approval process. During the moratorium we took critical steps to ensure that we would be ready to proceed when it was lifted, including significant work on design, engineering, finances and legal issues.
Building in phases
The ongoing recession and bank crisis have underscored our need to be fiscally responsible. To that end, as we announced to you earlier, we will build in phases, although the full design of our project has remained unchanged. The first phase, to begin late this summer, will include construction of flexible worship and social hall space, classrooms, a lobby and administrative offices. In a later phase we will build our permanent sanctuary. You can view the plans at our annual meeting (June 28, 7:30 p.m. at the JCC - announcement to follow).
Where we are now
While the moratorium significantly delayed our project, since its lifting we have been actively engaged with City officials in the detailed approval processes. We are delighted to announce Rockville's Planning Commission approved our Level II Site Plan on April 14th, a major accomplishment.
The Level II Site Plan encompasses everything outside the building: the obvious - such as parking, lighting, landscaping, emergency vehicle movement and utilities - and the less obvious - storm water management, sediment control and service vehicle movement.
With the Level II Site Plan approved, we immediately submitted detailed engineering plans and a building permit application. These are specific to the "bones" of the building itself, e.g., width of doors, height of ceilings, wall construction and utilities, but not elements considered "cosmetic." Although the review process for our building permit will take between four and six months, we expect approval of our engineering plans sooner. When that occurs, we will begin site work on the property, likely in August. Once the City issues our building permit, we will begin construction of the building, a process that will take approximately ten to twelve months.
Moving Forward
We are now actively engaged in the process of selecting our contractor and bank. Among the contractors interested in building our synagogue, six have met our requirements. Each has received a formal request for proposal, and proposals are due May 5. Thereafter, the Construction Committee and the Building Committee will review and compare the proposals, interview each candidate, select a contractor that best meets our needs and submit its recommendation to the Board of Directors.
Similarly, eight banks have voiced interest in being considered to finance the construction loan. The Building Finance Committee will review and compare all relevant information from each bank (e.g., interest rates, terms, penalties), and submit a recommendation to the Board of Directors. We expect the Board to vote on the recommended bank and contractor before the June 13 groundbreaking celebration.
Building our permanent home is an ongoing lesson in managing a myriad of intricate details while practicing inordinate patience. This is a welcome experience because we know that the end result will be our beautiful synagogue to be completed by the fall of 2011.
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Affiliated with The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
