Site Development Status, Update July 30, 2010

During the past few months Triangle2 Research, a firm based out of White House, Tennesee did a phone survey of 604 households within a 7 minute drive of our site at 194th and Farmington.  The purpose of the survey was to assess the feasibility and economics of a YMCA at that location.  The results were presented to the long range planning group of the YMCA and CMPF site planning team on June 23.  The summary is that this community would be very much supportive of such a facility. This  is very encouraging news for us!   If any of you are interested in the specifics of this survey, I have a copy in pdf format.  Feel free to send me a request via email and I can forward this to you.  Alternatively, see me after church on Sunday and I can give you more details verbally.

Yesterday, Pastor Scott and I participated in a meeting between executive staff at THPRD and YMCA. The meeting was held primarily to establish communication and open dialogue between those organizations.   The conversation focused on a possible construction of a significant aquatic and exercise facility funded by the YMCA.  We know that THPRD has been talking about future construction of another aquatic facility in our community, so this meeting was a first step in development of additional partnerships that would lead to meeting that need while avoiding the possible conflict of "dueling athletic facilities" by 2 non-profits.

Later that day, Scott, Trevor Sheffels, Megan Sheffels and I joined Bob Hall (CEO) and Bruce Patton (VP) of the YMCA.  We traveled north together and visited an impressive new YMCA located in Gig Harbor, WA followed by another facility in Puyallup, WA.  We spent the better part of 10 hours together that day with lots of driving time (in one minivan).  It was time well spent!  We got to know them and they got to know us.  We also learned much about different ways YMCA's are constructed and managed in our communities.  We are not done with this part of the process, but yesterday was a valuable first step.  Future meetings will include visits at the Sherwood YMCA as well as other facilities close to home such as the Kroc Community Center in Salem. 

Our next step together will be to select a suitable organization and perform a YMCA capital funding feasibilty study.  This will involve development of more specific plans and concept drawings that will be used to educate potential high net-worth donors in our community and solicit their commitment to funding this project.   Along the way as we finalize our commitment to the YMCA-CMPF partnership, we will be looking for additional partners to complete the project and help us meet our stewardship goals.

As always, if you have any questions about this or other site-related topics, feel free to contact me or other members of our site development team: Pastor Scott Peterson, Mat Sinclair, Jon Hughes and Paul John.   Our team also includes these non-CMPF members: Mike Tharp of Norris, Beggs and Simpson Realtors, Bob LeFeber of Commercial Realty Advisors and Jeff Los Senior Architect at Ankrom Moisan Architects.  Please keep all of us in your prayers as we move forward in development of this exciting project!

In His Name,

Doug Hoy

Chair Site Planning Team

Meeting with the YMCA's Long Range Planning Committee, February, 2010

On Thursday, February 4, 2010, the site team gave a presentation to the YMCA's subgroup of their board of directors known as the "Long Range Planning Committee".  This is a key group of decision makers within the YMCA organization.   Any partnership proposal would require approval by this group.  They had received a copy of our Letter of Intent about 2 months earlier in early December, 2009.   That document outlined 3 key components that were important for the two organizations to understand:

1. This was a non-binding document (neither party obligated legally).
2. The land to be used for facility construction by the Y would be provided as a low cost land lease for 99 years.
3. The parties signing this agreement are to equally share the cost of: 
1. a market study which would indicate demand and community support for a YMCA facility,
2. a stewardship drive community survey which would indicate feasibility for the YMCA organization to raise the necessary capital to fund the construction of their portion of the property, and
3. design planning expenses allocated to Ankrom Moisan Architects to prepare a preliminary master plan showing joint development of the property.

The presentation used during that meeting is A Vision for Community Development.  During the presentation, Scott and I described how a community center, consisting of a church, a YMCA and possibly other non-profit organizations and structions (low income senior housing for example) could be combined on this site to provide cohesion for the unincorporated area of Aloha, OR.

Later that day, we received word that the board liked the presentation and approved the Letter of Intent.

The following week, on February 11, the Board of Trustees, Presbytery of the Cascades, also approved this Letter of Intent.

Praise the Lord!

Doug Hoy
Chair, CMPF Site Planning Team