We regret to report that our playground and parking lot project will not happen this fall, due to three interwoven factors beyond our control. First, the city requires that we submit a detailed, engineered site plan before they will approve the project.
Second, this site plan can only be drawn up by qualified engineers, but engineers in our area have been swamped with a backlog of construction projects. The earliest any engineer could visit our land as a first step in preparing a site plan for the city was last week.
The third factor is that the city board which approves construction projects like ours only meets once a month, near the end of the month. However the proper paperwork, including the engineered site plan, must be submitted to the board one month before the meeting at which we seek approval.
In other words, the submission deadline in September for plans to be considered at the October board meeting has already passed (because no engineer was available to finish the paperwork in time). We intend to submit our paperwork in late October in order to be approved in late November.
But by late November, the weather will be too cold to cure concrete properly, which means we will have to wait until this coming spring.
We’re sorry for this disappointing news. So many of you have given generously to this project. The Capital Campaign Committee has worked hard. Lowell Nafziger and Greg Smucker have diligently stayed in touch with architectural and engineering firms, and with city officials. Thank you for your generous financial support, and now for your patience as we await the coming of spring.