By Pastor Kind
We thought we were pretty much there already; that is, until the city’s Heritage Preservation Commission and the Planning Commission couldn’t agree with one another on whether they liked our design or not. Actually it wasn’t the design so much as the placement of the chapel on the property that caused the issue. The Heritage folks loved the whole package we presented, the building, the scale of it, the connection to Luther House (a historic building) and the placement on the lot. The Planning Commission, well… not so much. Minneapolis is trying to eliminate its large surface parking lots and so, while the Planning Commission didn’t have issues with the look of the building, they didn’t like the idea of ULC retaining a corner parking lot (which has been there for the last 35 years). A corner parking lot, they said, would leave “a gaping hole in the urban landscape.” So back to the drawing board we went.
The drawings below show recent updates to the design. The biggest changes revolve around our having to move the building onto the land where the current Luther House parking lot sits and, as a result, reworking the connection to Luther House. We are still tweaking this design (There was a very productive 3 hour meeting with the architect and builder yesterday!), but we think we are getting closer and hope to get the required city approvals over the next few months.
If all goes as planned groundbreaking will likely take place sometime in March. And yes, we are still on track for Reformation 2017!
Please pray that all of the city committees involved approve the design so that we can begin to build on time. Thank you to everyone who has been pledging, giving, and praying!
Be sure to follow our blog as we will have new drawings again soon that will reflect the changes made a yesterday’s meeting.
