7.3. SR 03-19-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Barnhart, Jeremy From: Elk River ELCA Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2012 12:09 PM To: Barnhart, Jeremy Subject: Elk River Lutheran Church CUP Application Jeremy, Thank you for your work on behalf of Elk River Lutheran these last two years. Your guidance has been most helpful and appreciated. At Tuesday evening's planning commission meeting, we found it interesting that the questions the planning commission had were exactly the questions we had asked during our due diligence. Our financing will be done through the Mission Investment Fund (MIF) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. They maintain staff in Chicago and a building consultant housed in Minneapolis. As a new congregation, we completed the MIF's rigorous process to qualify for financing. The MIF has extensive experience with supporting the building and remodeling of thousands of Lutheran Churches throughout the country. When we first began considering the First National Bank Building, our initial concern was with having adequate available parking now and into the future. To answer the parking questions we established a small task force that included retired pastors and Elk River business owners (all of whom were skeptical). We walked from the Dare parking lot, from the King lot and we walked all street parking within a block of the bank. All of those task force members became convinced that if we were able to secure agreements with Dare's the First National Bank, parking would be adequate. We then hired Vanman to complete a feasibility study--and they also verified adequate parking. Finally, four staff members including three members from the Chicago office of the Mission Investment Fund visited the proposed site to survey the location and give recommendations. They also agreed with the assessment on parking. Of all, we believe the MIF staff is the most conservative voice as they consider the present and future needs of the church facility. With their extensive experience in building and remodeling churches, we were prepared to abandon the proposal if they had any reservations with this location. It was with the strong recommendation from the MIF that we secured a purchase agreement and have completed the design and paperwork for the CUP. The Elk River Lutheran Church congregation council also has addressed the need to consider the downtown schedule and work to be a good neighbor. We recognize it will be essential to be considerate as we schedule special events. For example, we commented that it would be unwise to schedule large weddings opposite summer park concerts. We also talked about the need to plan and coordinate with Dare's when they have large funerals. Our goal is to enhance the downtown experience and provide additional public spaces that will compliment the downtown park. Our plans include a large lower level fellowship room that could be used by the community as the old bank community room was used. This room will be equipped with both sound and a projector so it can be used as a larger meeting space (seating 100). We feel that the downtown location allows us to work to become a community resource that can be used all week long. We have purchased an artist level piano for the sanctuary anticipating that this space will be able to host recitals and chamber concerts. Our congregation council looks forward to partnerships with our neighbors and with the city that will help bring the vision of a community resource to reality. Elk River Lutheran Church, Executive Committee Karen Dear, president; Alan Abell, vice-president; John Froelich, treasurer; Sue Hales, secretary; Pastor Cyndi Ganzkow-Wold