If you listened carefully, you may have heard that noise coming out of our John Wesley Hall Wednesday afternoon between one and three. Don’t be alarmed, it was just our Housing Team continuing its journey, chugging along. Currently, we are awaiting the proposal from the Hacienda developers who, as it turns out, will be presenting their proposal at our June meeting. This gave us a chance to regroup, review, and look to future possibilities.
At this meeting regrouping was to revisit the various congregational parameters we had established with NHA. These included discussions of the community garden, parking requirements, keeping the parsonage, and reducing the church of footprint by removing the west end of the education wing. Each of these ‘dealbreakers’ was more finely detailed so as to avoid future misunderstandings with potential developers.
Review included discussions of the City Council and the UMC Board. The various ways to contact these entities, and our history with both was an interesting sharing. Our conclusion was that we are well connected, more informed, and better prepared for any future presentations.
Looking to the future included both scheduled and hopeful presentations. As stated earlier, Hacienda will present their proposal at our June meeting. Other possibilities to look forward to include conversations with Edlen, another developer and EMO. EMO was a mystery to this author until finding out it stood for Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, a title which will be familiar to many. They will be a good resource for any future development that takes place.
As you have read, your Housing Team had another productive meeting. As usual, if there are any questions, please contact any member for more details and stay tuned for the next set of findings we will share with you.