St. Mary of Lourdes/St. James
Planning Advisory Committee
Minutes of
The meeting was called to order at
Schematic/Feasiblity Plan report by Joe Stadelman:
Joe asked if there were any comments on previous meeting items. Ken Klink commented on sloped floor, hearing that it was unattractive to some. John Buscemi said that it is an important feature when seating is over 500 people. It becomes unattractive if it is too steep. Joe said only reason not to slope would be if there was a vision of changing the interior of the church in the future. John said if left flat then there is a need to raise the altar area which causes handicap accessible issues. John said ½% slope is normal.
Joe hoped to get direction and decisions tonight on the seating layout if possible. He provided a Program (our laundry list) of space needs and numbers to confirm and comment on. He also provided a one story and two story building scheme.
Discussions were had on:
- seating arrangement and tabernacle position. T shape vs. Radial shape and having an ambulatory for parishioner circulation.
- Stated proposed 600 seats not enough. Proposed 750-800 instead. John said if build for 750-800 to begin with we don’t necessarily need to put all the pews in right away.
- Daily mass chapel could be used for joint functions, overflow etc. John says let the space grow with the people.
- Look at immediate need to see if we can build larger and not use the space right away. – John says possible to have large ambulatory that can be made smaller later to accommodate more people.
Pros and cons of T shape and Radial design were discussed:
- T incorporates ritual space around baptismal font, allows for many focal points, better able to keep the altar and ambo together, trickier on the back wall design.
- Radial has one focal point, more crowded center, to keep altar and ambo together would require more square footage.
- Jerry Rabas noted that the T design is closer to what we have now, with expansion it would become more of a radial design.
- Jerry Ziegler asked how people tend to fill the pews when the church isn’t totally full. John Buscemi said they use the ambulatory to move to where they want to sit.
Joe Donlin made a motion to accept the Radial design – seconded by Jim Fahey. A hand vote was taken with a majority accepting the Radial design with the incorporation of the altar and ambo being closer together than they show on the existing plans.
A motion was made by Doug Waelti to increase the seating capacity to 800 with a second by Joe Donlin. A hand vote was taken and the 800 seating capacity was approved unanimously
Joe Stadelman asked us to read and review the Program Guide. In two weeks we’ll meet and hear comments on the Program Guide and decide on the 1 or 2 story scheme. Joe commented that one story can let you dictate what gets built now and later; and, also having everything on one floor tends to make extra activities more inviting due to their visibility. Two stories forces a person to decide to go to a function sight unseen. If we go with one story, the parking plan would need to be revisited. Heating/cooling might be slightly less expensive with one story.
The next Planning Advisory Committee meeting will be March
30, at