REI Building Project
On Sunday, July 29, 2018, the Beacon Unitarian Universalist Congregation held a special congregational meeting to approve a plan to expand the building with more program space. The first motion; “To approve option B as the selected design for the renovation and expansion of the church.” Option B, now called the REI Project, passed 59 to 7 by a show of hands (87% approval).
The second motion; “To authorize the Board, on behalf of the Congregation, to undertake financing, contracting for services, and other activities as necessary to further the construction project within the financial constraints of funds raised by the capital campaign. This authorization includes the use of the Building Reserve Fund for this project.” passed by a simple majority of oral ayes. This meant that Beacon could begin contracting for construction.
Beacon’s building was constructed in 1981 and expanded in 1994. Now 25 years later, we are expanding the building again. This has been a five-year journey beginning with a pre-application meeting with the City of Flagstaff in April of 2013. The Building Expansion Team (BET) was formed by the Board to coordinate development of designs and plans for approval by the congregation.
In the beginning we hired an architect to help us develop designs to present to the congregation. We then hired a financial consultant to help us plan out our approach to raising funds for the project. Kay Crider, our consultant, interviewed members of the congregation and produced a financial feasibility study. Then once our new settled Minister was fully oriented and engaged, we began a capital campaign, continued to develop designs, coordinated with the city on utilities and surveys, and many other tasks.