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Where are we
with the capital campaign?
How much money do we have? How much
do we need to get started building?
The campaign has stalled while negotiating with the Town of Cary on
the traffic study requirements. We expect to have the issues with
the Town resolved shortly. To date, we have approximately $2.3M in
pledges, which includes $1.1M in actual donations and a $500k
donation to the project by the parish. To start construction, we
need to have a total of approximately $3M in the bank. This means
we need another $1.4M in cash. We still need to raise 50% of the
total project cost, so fundraising will continue after construction
begins. Ideally, we would like to raise 100% of the total cost in
donations so no mortgage is needed.
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How much is this
project going to cost?
The total cost is estimated to be
$9M, which includes construction costs, architectural fees, legal
fees, impact fees, and traffic improvement adjustments.
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How many pledges
have we received? How many from school families vs. parish at
large?
We are auditing the pledge cards to
get an accurate count on total pledges, but the estimate at this
time is approximately 750 total pledges, of which the school
families have made approximately 180 (57% of total families).
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Why haven’t we
heard any updates since last year?
Many factors have slowed the
campaign. First, our co-chair who was driving the campaign became
ill with cancer early in 2009 and passed away this summer. Second,
the Town of Cary has been hesitant to agree to our proposals to
satisfy the traffic study requirements due to other potential
projects in the High House – Cary Parkway corridor. Third, we are
just getting committees re-started to focus on specific tasks.
Finally, the economic downturn has had a negative impact on our
volunteer base and our donation total, which has prevented us from
making enough progress in the capital campaign to be noteworthy.
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Who is the
contractor? Were bids received to get the best price?
The Diocese and St. Michael’s have a
longstanding relationship with Clancy & Theys. They gave us their
commitment to get the best pricing on materials and subcontractors
possible while maintaining the quality that is present in all other
buildings on our campus. Their familiarity with our other projects
makes them uniquely qualified to complete this project in the
shortest time with the lowest total cost.
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Is expansion
necessary? Is there still a waiting list?
Over the past 2.5 years, our parish
has assessed our growth and found that space limitations are a
problem for both the parish and the school. The master plan for the
school originally included a gym and additional rooms, and this is
the logical progression for the campus. The waiting list is still
present, even during the economic downturn.
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How will we pay
the mortgage for the new building? Will tuition increase?
The Diocese will loan the money
needed to complete the project on a 15-year term loan. We believe
the incremental increase in tuition revenue through the addition of
new students will be enough to pay for additional staff as well as
the mortgage, without raising tuition. The existing school
mortgages are scheduled to be paid off over the next 5 years,
freeing up even more revenue to cover school expenses.
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Have we
considered modifying existing buildings instead?
Our architect studied an idea to
reconfigure the Trinity Center and Archangel Center to allow the
Trinity Center to become a middle school and the Archangel Center to
become the ECC. This plan also included modifying the Parish Center
to become a full-size gymnasium. The result of this study was that
such a project would be more costly and take longer due to the costs
to upfit both the Trinity Center and Archangel Center buildings to
handle these new roles. It would also consume the existing ECC
playground without creating the dining hall and stage facilities
that we desperately need. In the end, the idea was rejected and
focus returned to the original plan.
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Is this the last
capital campaign we can expect?
We can’t say with certainty that we
will never need to have another capital campaign, but once the
school building is complete, expansion on our campus will be
complete. The parish will continue to face financial challenges,
such as debt reduction, capital improvements, and other unforeseen
expenses, so a future campaign is always a possibility.
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What happens
when the church’s debt is paid off? Will that money be applied to
the school debt?
The Church’s financial status
continues to be monitored closely to ensure that parish funds are
managed properly. As the mortgages are paid off, the Finance
Council will re-assess the best use of our funds and apply them
where they have the most benefit for the parish.
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Why don’t we set
up an endowment instead of expanding the school?
An endowment would be an excellent
addition to our school, but it does not fill the need to add space
and seats to provide Catholic education to more students. Once the
building project is complete, an endowment to make tuition more
affordable would be a worthwhile follow-on project.
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Is the church
able to take on more debt during this economic downturn?
That is ultimately up to the Diocese
to determine, but we feel confident that our plan is convincing.
Debt payment will be secured by the increased tuition revenue, and
the debt payment schedule for the parish debt makes us confident
that we will be able to absorb other unforeseen expenses while
servicing this additional debt.
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Best case, when
can construction start?
Based on the Town of Cary approval process, the
soonest we could start construction would be around March 1 of
2010. This assumes we have the necessary funds to get started as
well as Diocesan approval, too.
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How long will
construction take?
Estimates from the builder predict 12 months for this
project. Clancy & Theys is making a new project plan with an actual
schedule that will also include potential time savings on the total
project schedule.
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During
construction, how much disruption will the students experience?
Classrooms have been reassigned this year to meet
codes that require children below a certain grade level to have
direct access to a ground floor exit. No further classroom changes
are required. Construction traffic will be routed through the
entrance to the Archangel Center along a narrow road around the edge
of the fields to the rear of the property. All construction
activity will be fenced off away from the children. Normal
construction noise will be unavoidable, but the builder has assured
us that they would do everything they can to complete major
structural construction in a timely manner.
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What happens to
the sports field during construction?
A temporary access road will be added
to the perimeter of the fields connecting the parking lot of the
Archangel Center to the construction zone. This road will be fenced
off from the rest of the field so activities can continue during
construction. The fields may need to be reconfigured in some manner
during this project. Clancy & Theys has assured us that any
temporary modifications to the field will be repaired at the
completion of the project and the fields will be returned to the
state they are in today.
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What does Cary
require us to do based on the traffic study?
The Town Council has approved our
proposals to satisfy our adequate public facilities requirements.
This includes building a right turn lane into our eastern-most
parking lot, granting the right of way along High House Road for
future widening, and making a one-time payment to the Town to cover
our share of the expense for the Cary Parkway-High House Road
intersection improvements and an eventual traffic signal in front of
the church and Bond Park. This is a major hurdle that could have
prevented us from doing the project at all had they decided to put
the burden of all road improvements to High House Road on St.
Michael’s.
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What do we do if
we open another class per grade and don’t have enough students to
fill them?
The plan for expansion is to limit
class sizes to 25 (75 students per grade). This means we will add
approximately18-20 students per grade. If we find that there are
not enough stewardship families to fill the open slots, we will open
enrollment to other families in the community.
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Why not just
build a gym?
Building the gym would block future
construction of the other wing that would house the cafeteria and
other classrooms. Furthermore, building a gym alone does not
satisfy our need for space for faith formation, adult education, and
to reduce our school waiting list.
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It seems like
the school will be the only group to benefit from this project. Why
should people not affiliated with the school donate?
The school building is used by the
entire parish after school hours and on weekends. The additional
space, gymnasium, cafeteria, and chapel will benefit the entire
community – not just the school. The fact that school tuition funds
the building entirely makes it even more important that the parish
community support this project.
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Will the new
facilities change any other services currently provided, such as the
masses at Green Hope and the Parish Center?
These masses currently serve a
specific need that would not be relieved adding a gymnasium, thus no
changes are planned to the existing mass schedule.
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What will happen
to the playground during and after construction?
During construction, the playground
will be dismantled. Younger children will be able to use the
playground next to the parish center, while older children will have
recess in the parking area near the school as they do now. The
playground will then be reassembled closer to the sports fields once
construction is complete.
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How can we keep
up to date on the progress of this project?
A communication committee has been
formed with Frank Graff as the chairman. We are planning to update
the parish website, include updates in the weekly principal’s
letter, create a display in the gathering space of the church, and
insert bulletin updates on a weekly basis throughout the project.
We are also investigating the showing of a modified campaign video
in the church to re-start fundraising in the near future.
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How will
construction and the new building addition affect the carpool
system?
The carpool system we currently use
may need to be adjusted to handle additional vehicles – especially
during dismissal carpool. We have reviewed our system with a
traffic engineering consultant and have been assured that we have
enough parking lot space to effectively process the additional
vehicles without any delays.
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Will the new
construction have any affect on the Weatherstone community?
All access to the campus will be
through existing entrances, including access for construction
vehicles. The path between the campus and the Weatherstone
community will remain unchanged.
