2019 Updates on the Renovation of Our Church Home

Update in the December Newsletter Emailed Dec. 11, 2019

Huzza! We now have our building permit! 
On Thursday, December 5th, DH Construction informed me that the wait was over. They had just received the stamped set of approved plans from the City. The restoration of the church building can now officially get underway.  What does this look like? Now that we have all of the requirements from the City, DH (along with Bruce Tyson our Construction Inspector) will go back through the scope of the project and divvy up the different pieces into their appropriate categories (Restoration, Code Required or Upgrades, etc).

What Happens Next ? 
                                                                                                                               
DH has sent off the plans to Bugarello Alarm to get started on fire alarm drawings.  The old furnaces were demoed on Dec. 6th and planning has begun on the rough HVAC. Over the next few weeks DH will start demoing the existing electrical conduit, lights and wires to get prepared for rough electrical. They are working on getting cabinet drawings for both kitchens on paper over the next 2-3 weeks.  DH will continue with the interior framing throughout the project as well.

While this is going on, DH, a representative from Church Mutual, and the construction inspector from MKA will be going through the scope of work (now that the requirements of the City are known) and separate the work into “fire restoration” and “code upgrade” categories. The more that can be shifted to “fire restoration” the further the code upgrade monies will go. One huge praise is that the City dropped the fire sprinkler requirement.
In the meantime, God continues to bless us with a great place to hold worship and be together as one family united in Christ that loves, cares for, and supports each other. I am proud to be counted among the LTCPC family. While this has been an emotional journey for all of us, most of what we are facing does not equate to world problems.

Our building is down to the studs and is set for an inward makeover – the inside will once again match the outside. As I reflect on this, I catch myself looking inward as well – wanting my inside to match my outside (minus a few pounds of course).

As we head in to Advent and the Christmas Season take a moment to reflect on what really matters – health, family, unity in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and how we reflect that light in our lives.

Stayed tuned for updates.

Bendiciones a todo,

Garth Butz                                                                                                                                                                                            
Your Clerk of Session
 


Update in Newsletter Emailed Oct. 5, 2019

The restoration of the church has proven to be a much longer process than we originally anticipated.
We are now at a time to see things happen at a much quicker pace.

The remediation of smoke, asbestos, lead and other chemicals began within days of the fire.
That process required that all furnishings, built-in cabinets, electronic equipment, furnaces, stoves,
books, files, pews, carpeting, etc. be removed sorted and stored.
Smoke and other chemicals related to the fire were found throughout the entire building.
Workers were in hazmat suits for many weeks.

The final plans for the restoration of the church are actively being reviewed by the city
and we anticipate that the building permit will be issued very shortly.
In the meantime, Pastor Bob said,
“DH Contractors have been busy doing what repairs they can under
the demolition permit repairing areas related to immediate safety.
They have: installed a new laminate beam in the Pre-K room beneath the nursery,
reinforced the poles holding up the Family Room ceiling/sanctuary floor,
rebuilt the stairway from the Family Room up to the sanctuary,

Two big items this last week:
1) A contract has been signed by the contractor who will do
this last stage of renovating the church building.
2) The renovation plans have been submitted
to the city for their approval.

Update Given in Church August 25,  2019
The members of Temple Bat Yam have generously
extended to us the use of their building on Sunday mornings
through the end of 2019.
The one exception is that we will not meet at the temple on October 20.
Please check the home page of this website for
our meeting place on that date.

We now have final plans for the rebuilding of the church
which now need to go to the city for approval.
DH Construction will be doing the restoring of the building.

The code upgrades required by the city are currently
estimated to be approximately between $800,000-$850,000.
There is currently work going on trying to bring down this expense.
The insurance policy will cover $500,000 of this cost.
A capital campaign will be beginning shortly to attempt to
raise money to back fill this shortfall.


Update in Newsletter Emailed July 15, 2019
From the Clerk of Session

Things continue to move forward, very slowly, but forward.
There are a lot of voices that are involved in the moving forward of our restoration.
Here is the list of players:
Belfor, MKA (construction inspection),
Church Mutual (our insurance carrier),
York (Church Mutual’s third party adjuster),
the City of SLT, Barrish Pelham (the engineering firm drawing up the plans),
and in the middle of it all...
you have us (LTCPC).
I might have missed somebody.
Please believe we are doing our best to push things along.

One positive note:
We have a contractor working on upgrading our technology and multimedia capability.
It is most the most cost-effective option to do this work now while the walls are open.


Update in Newsletter Emailed May 2, 2019

The abatement and restoration process continues at the church.
The estimation as of April 25 is 1 1/2 to 2 more weeks of abatement.
The last phase of this process is being performed in the sanctuary.
See picture below of our sanctuary.



Tentative plans have been delivered and are in the process of being reviewed by
Belfor, our restoration company, the current Construction Manager from MKA,
some of your Session members, and Buildings & Grounds
to make any corrections/comments prior to being submitted to the City for approval.
The hope is that by having all these eyes look at the plans
before they officially get submitted to the city,
they will get stamped as approved the first time.
Thank you to everyone for their patience during these challenging times.

God continues to lavish His provision on us.
The Jewish community is still enthusiastic in their desire to be able to help us
and they report that they hardly notice that we are there at all.
They have extended their invitation for us to hold worship
in their synagogue through August.
Other possible worshiping venues have been explored and evaluated
but they have been found to be too small,
needing too much work that LTCPC would be required to do,
and/or too expensive.

Committee Overseeing Wiring and Technology Renovation
Members of this committee are:
Bob Grant
John Harbison
Pastor Bob Kelly

and rebuilt the fire escape that leads down from the upstairs classroom.”Update Given in Church Sept. 1,  2019

Update on Church Renovation Project
March 12, 2019

Background Information:
Mar 3: An all-church gathering was held at St.Teresa’s inviting
friends and members of the church to come together to
dream, praise, express concerns, and offer suggestions.
Some of the key concerns expressed were:
*Effective communication
*Logistics in renovating the church
*"Who is responsible for what?"
*Outreach
*Youth in our church

March 12: A cross-section of 20 people coming from
session, deacons, and church committees
reviewed the concerns from the all-church gathering
and decided to focus on the 5 concerns listed above
relative to the church renovation
especially since there are decisions that need to be made in as soon as 30 days.


Notes from the March 12 Meeting:

Who’s making the decisions?

Session will be overseeing expenditures and big decisions
related to renovation and upgrades,
and will be deciding on sub-committees related to all aspects of the renovation.


The Building & Grounds committee members are
actively meeting with people from Belfor Property Restoration,
which is a firm that restores water, fire, storm, and mold damage
for businesses and consumers.


Signatories for Expenses: Pastor Bob, Garth Butz-Clerk of Session & Ken Mutter-Church Treasurer


Communication: Updates will be provided
weekly in the bulletin
on the website,
through the deacons.


Timeline:

Completed or currently in process:
• Asbestos abatement-finishing up
• Church cleaned out
• Determining what to discard, salvage, replace


Next steps including those required by code:
• Electrical & gas
• Furnace replacement


Upcoming issues to be addressed soon (currently requesting estimates)
• Replacement of furniture & window coverings
(current assessment is that about 90% will need replacement)
• Flooring
• Lighting
• Insulation
• Technology including updates such as
adding Data ports & additional outlets, AV equipment
• Windows in family room


Information Announced in Church March 10

The construction crew is currently removing asbestos from the building so it is completely off limits during this time.
The contractor is feeling confident that by the end of April, the church office in the building will be up and running.
Until then, the temporary church office will continue to function in the mobile office in our parking lot.

Information in an All-Church Email from Pastor Bob-posted Feb. 18

Mostly we are in a holding pattern, waiting on the engineers and the insurance company. A number of people have come by the church getting information and evaluating. The engineers were there a couple of weeks ago. There have been several “walk-throughs” with Belfor, various sub-contractors, electricians, plumbers, remediation specialists, and the insurance company.

A dry cleaning company has been there to evaluate all the “soft goods” i.e. the pew cushions, chairs etc. What we have been told is that after getting a bid the insurance company will decide whether to clean or replace. The same thing is true of the electronics in the church. Although it may not be possible to clean electronics and certify them safe. The insurance company has been working with the church office to determine what our loss of income was for January and we should be reimbursed for that.

Work has been happening at the church in the meantime. Everything has been packed away to either be disposed of or cleaned. They moved out all the pianos and took very good care of the Steinway. The two containers in the front of the church contain the pews. They have had air scrubbers running constantly since the fire. Some demolition has occurred as they are remediating the asbestos. The janitor’s closet, storeroom, the diamond room and the family room are down to bare walls.

Unfortunately, we have not been given an estimate as to how soon they will be done, but we do have an unofficial estimate that we can be back in the office area in April.

As we get more information, we will share it with you. The goal is to give an update every week.

Information Concerning our Insurance-posted Feb. 13

The church is well insured with clauses included for:
Upgrades to meet current building codes
and replacement of loss of income.
At this point in time, the insurance company has not
told us the specific amounts they will be designating in these areas.

Information Included in the Church Newsletter-posted Feb. 7:

From Pastor Bob

Well, the month of January has been sort of a wild ride for the church, hasn’t it? On Wednesday, February 9th, during choir practice, choir members smelled smoke and discovered there was a fire burning in the janitor’s closet. The Fire Department was called and arrived just in time to prevent the whole building from burning. The actual fire damage was only in the janitor’s closet behind the kitchen, the storeroom next to it and the hall ceiling. Unfortunately, smoke went throughout the building and as a result, we will not be able to use the building for probably six months.

The fire was accidentally started by a member of the church. It was not intentional and the person involved had no idea that this would happen.

As we move on, we are going to be faced with some challenges. Our building was built in 1948 and building codes have changed in the last 70 years. According to the city inspector, anything that is touched has to be brought up to current code. That means all of the electrical and all of the gas piping. They have not said anything about the water pipes yet, but I am waiting for it. And there will be asbestos and lead remediation. Also, a good deal of our electronics will have to be replaced.

The good news is we have very good insurance. We are waiting for the insurance company to determine the damage and needed repairs. Then the engineers will produce a budget for said repairs and we should receive a settlement of the reimbursement value from the insurance company. We have hired Belfor as our remediation contractor. They have done an excellent job hiring electricians, plumbers and other specialists to assist with the process. They are a national company and have a national account with our insurance company. A BIG plus is that we have contracted with Barrish Pelham to do the engineering.

As I write this, I am in our temporary office watching them remove damaged items that will be discarded and other items that will be cleaned or repaired.

While we have been ‘churchless’ Hope Lutheran Church has graciously invited us to join their worship service and Temple Bat Yam has welcomed us to gather in their space.

This is a difficult time for us, but if we approach this with God’s help, we will in the end be a stronger church and witness for Jesus by the time this is done.

Yours in Christ

Pastor Bob Kelley

Other Information-Also in the Church Newsletter-posted Feb. 7


The fire at the church has turned a number of things upside down and caused angst and uncertainty. We have had to be flexible with schedules and find new locations to worship, hold meetings and continue to serve the community.

There is so much good news though…we have been welcomed into other congregations in our community, Temple Bat Yam and Hope Lutheran. Many other churches have reached out to see what they could do to help: The Church of Christ-Science, Sierra Community Church and Tahoe Community Church have offered prayer, office space and sanctuary space. The South Tahoe Board of Realtors has offered help, as have many other secular organizations in the community. Our church will be okay.

So many of you have been stepping up to spend time and energy to do the work of the church in this time of need,
and helped to make things run as smoothly as possible.

Deacons are making sure that the members of their parishes know where we will be worshiping. People are working with the restoration company to sort through each room at the church and talk about getting the facility up and running. Others are working with to assure that our worship services and programs such as
Bread and Broth, the Food Pantry, the choir, our spiritual formation programs and the children’s ministry continue with little interruption.

We were able to find a temporary home for the Friday serving of Bread & Broth at Saint Theresa’s Church and Tahoe Wellness Cooperative has provided space in their community center for the Phoenix Food Pantry. We believe that both of the Hispanic Churches have found temporary homes as well.

Belfor, our restoration company, and Church Mutual, our insurance company, have been a tremendous help. We have a portable office in the church parking lot, so we can continue to conduct our business during this transition period. In the next 3 to 4 weeks, Belfor, along with an engineering company, will be creating a plan that outlines the scope and cost of the rehabilitation that will be presented to our insurance carrier. We are looking forward to the church building being rehabilitated, with up to code electrical and gas lines, new furnaces, carpeting, paint and décor.

So, although we had a fire, we have much to be thankful for…no one was physically injured and although the temporary situation can be trying at times, we are all still able to come together as the Body of Christ and worship our Amazing God!