Questions and Answers About Our Future Lewiston Catholic Community Church

1/9/09

Q:  How was Kenaston Corporation selected as the General Contractor for our building project?

A: In response to questions about how Kenaston Corporation was hired as the General Contractor for building the new church, here is a re-cap of that process.  Letters were sent  to four companies in our region that were qualified to work on our project.  A committee interviewed three of those companies, and the fourth company declined to be considered.     

Following those interviews, Kenaston Corporation was selected for our project based on the following:                                                                     Highly qualified, willing to work with local sub-contractors; willing to offer their expertise in the design process (at no extra charge); their experience working with the City of Lewiston; their building experience with school, commercial, and government buildings similar to our type of project. 

The decision to hire Kenaston Corporation was unanimous among the building committee. 

They have been an invaluable asset during the design process and have made time to attend all design meetings when requested.  They have provided a great deal of support through their knowledge, experience and their understanding of the local building environment.

8/30/07

Q:  How do we know how to build a church that is going to meet the
needs of our Catholic parish?

A:  All the details are spelled out in a publication that you can read
on the Internet, or you can purchase in a book format.  The link for
the online version is at the United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops website:
http://www.usccb.org/liturgy/livingstonesind.shtml
 

8/23/07

Q: What has happened so far in preparation for this project to unite all three Lewiston parishes?
A: 1995: Vitality Project: Statewide meetings of all parishes and deaneries to evaluate the best strategies for dealing with increasing numbers of parishioners, and few parish priests. The North Idaho deanery concluded that Lewiston's three parishes, because of their close proximity, should combine into one larger parish. This was signed off on by all the priests in our deanery.
1997: Lewiston parishes advised to start looking at a possible location for a single large church. This was published in the Idaho Catholic Register after all results of the Vitality Project were compiled.
2002: Announcement at all Lewiston masses that it is time to identify and purchase land for the unification of the Lewiston Catholic Community. A site selection committee was convened and all suitable sites evaluated.
Summer 2006: Tri-Parish Council selected by Frs. Haldane and Kish.
September 2006: Land purchased.
September 2006: First meeting of the Tri-Parish Council.
Fall 2006-Summer 2007: Tri-Parish Council met once or twice monthly to define the goals of the project, set up communications efforts, identify the requirements of the Diocese, identify the needs of the Lewiston Catholic Community, and hire a liturgical design consultant.
August 2007: Parish meetings; Q& A Session.

Q: What are the next steps planned?
A: **Select a name for our new parish in the next three months
**Convene the building committee on August 19th, and additional meetings starting August 26th.
**Hire an architect (this will be done by the building committee).
**Begin the actual physical planning and design process. This will start with educational meetings (see the calendar, your bulletin, or the bulletin board at each church for dates and times). ALL parish members are encouraged to attend and give input into their hopes and dreams, to learn about how a church is designed, what makes a church "Catholic" in its design, and to identify what our needs and priorities will be.

Q: Is there an overall timeline we can expect?
A: OUTLINE OF THE PROCESS 2007.
The following outline is very general and assumes everything will go smoothly. Realistically, it is not unlikely that some portions of the project may take longer than anticipated. The more everyone helps, the sooner it will happen.

PREPARATIONS:
Preplanning and organization of the building committee. (Near completion)

Selection of a parish name. (Next three months)

Selection of an architect. Identification of subcommittees. (Next two months.)

Education about church building, liturgical design, and written formulation of our own design (September through early November)

Master planning/schematic design: Actual site plans and general building design by the architects. Preparation of Fund-Raising Materials. (November 2007-March 2008).

IMPLEMENTATIONS:
Capital Campaign, including sale or contracts for sale of the parish properties (February -May 2008).

Confirmation of Scope and Budget, Reassessing our desires and our realities, getting the approval to proceed from the Diocese Building Commission. (June/July 2008)

Design Development/ Construction Documents: Detailed documents, artist selection, liturgical furnishing design, assembly seating selection, etc. (August 2008-January 2009)

Bidding and Negotiation: The process will be a competitive bid for the ENTIRE project. The general contractor will then hire and designate subcontractors to implement the project. (February and March, 2009)

CONSTRUCTION: April 2009-June 2010.
Site prep, infrastructure, building of church and school, fabrication of art and liturgical furnishings, preparation and installation of the seating.

DEDICATION: Our goal is to be in our new church by 2010.

These are our best estimates and may be altered by any number of circumstances. Your prayers and commitment will make it work.
 

1. Where will the new church be located?

The address is at 14th and Warner Avenue. This is just below Church Field, and Smith Complex (the soccer club fields). One primary reason for this property is its very central location in the city of Lewiston. It is less than 3 miles from Lourdes, 4.5 miles from St. Stan’s, and 1.5 miles from St. James. If you’d like to see it on a map and have access to the Internet, click here OR try this.

The purchase of the land was the result of a five year process. The initial Site Selection Committee identified ten properties and inquired of the owners of their top choices if they would be interested in selling their property. Due to competing interests in the community from developers and public entities such as the school district, our options dwindled fairly rapidly. Some owners were simply not interested in selling at all. The property we purchased was not even available when the original ten sites were chosen. However, when the school district bought one of the properties we had wanted, they decided to sell the land we now own. It was sold at public auction, and there were several competing bidders. The Diocese in conjunction with the pastors had a maximum price in mind and although the bid price was much more than they wanted to pay, it was significantly below their limit.

Keep in mind that properties of this size and quality are expensive. As a comparison, a new site in Boise with just 12 acres cost nearly three times what we have paid for our 37 acres. Our site has a good covering of soil, gentle topography, and a beautiful view. In preparation for the sale, the school district has undertaken some leveling at the southeast corner where our property borders theirs. We believe this site will provide an ideal setting and focus for the growth of the Lewiston Catholic Community.

This is going to be a process that will likely take at least five years for the first phase, and probably ten to reach completion. Much depends on how long it takes to raise the necessary funds, as well as the effort put into it by all parishioners to move ahead. We hope to start building in about three years.

There will be a separate Building Committee appointed by our priests and the Tri-Parish Council. They will decide on the design working with expert consultants who have experience building churches throughout the U.S.

Yes. A new tri-parish school will be built as part of the first building phase, partly so that the current property can be sold, and also to allow for expansion and modernization of the school’s facilities.

That committee will be selected by the Tri-Parish Council and our pastors.

The Diocese of Boise has oversight functions, and our parish must abide by their rules and regulations. But the actual decision-making and fund-raising will be accomplished by our own community.

Current estimates are in the $10-12 million range.                             This is a very rough estimate, and can change significantly             depending on what all is included along with the Church and school.

The three parish properties will be sold, as well as the school. There will also be a capital campaign that we hope to get started within the year. Current plans are to try to keep St. Stan’s intact, hopefully to use for weddings, funerals, and other religious functions. Because it is an historic landmark, it cannot be altered significantly. However, there is no legal provision against it being sold if a buyer wanted it as part of the entire property package. (NOT what we are hoping for!) We are querying the diocese about the possibility of the church building being sold separately to an individual or group (preferably Catholic) who would want to maintain it as a wedding and special events chapel. Our Lady of Lourdes and St. James already have potential buyers, as well as an interested party in the school property. NO agreements are currently in the works, though there is ongoing discussion on when they might be sold, and how much they are worth.

The churches are not currently listed on the open market. Any offers will have to be considered on their own merits and our circumstances at the time they are made.

Building sites are required to include adequate setback space from property lines, parking spaces based on a formula, and open and landscaped areas. The size of the property will allow our new parish to include our church and school, as well as other structures such as the office complex, activity center, meeting rooms, gymnasium, and athletic fields. There might also be the potential for limited senior housing or priest retirement housing, a recreation center, as well as room for expansion of the worship center and/or school as future needs arise.

The General Contractor for this project must be on an approved list maintained by the Diocese of Boise. Anyone interested should

contact them to find out what those requirements may be. Local subcontractors will be allowed to bid on any work the General Contractor chooses to sub out.

The Diocese advanced the needed monies to complete the purchase from the School District. The Diocese holds ownership of the land until eventually we will be required to reimburse their building fund. The Diocesan building fund helps parishes throughout the region with building and land acquisition funds, as they have with us.

Having more priests will not solve many of the needs of our parish. Obviously, it would be wonderful to have more priests here, but we need to be realistic. The needs of our young people are not being met, and we need much more involvement by our entire lay community          to meet the spiritual needs of our members. The synergy and economies of having a single parish for the Lewiston community will benefit all our members.

No name has been chosen. There will be a contest in all three parishes to select a name and a new logo. (Start thinking now!)          The Bishop will make the final selection based on 2-3 options forwarded to him by the Tri-Parish Council.

We welcome your comments and suggestions. Please feel free to talk to any of the Tri-Parish Council members. Our phone numbers and e-mail addresses are listed here on the website for your convenience. We will be asking for your help, prayers and support throughout this project. We will be scheduling “town hall” meetings in the days ahead, so please attend and don’t be afraid to ask questions and speak up. The more each of us is involved, the quicker it will happen and the smoother it will go. We will be looking for people interested in serving on the various committees, so please think and pray on how you can be a part of this wonderful opportunity to contribute to the future of our Catholic Community.

We will post new information as it becomes available. If you have a question you would like to see an answer posted for all to see, contact the Tri-Parish Council members.