Our Parish Building Committee has been able to meet with Design & Development representatives at the Diocese of Orlando to continue looking at a floor plan for the first building to be built on the campus – a Parish Life Center (Parish Hall). We have been discussing a lay-out that will accommodate the immediate needs that we require: Parish Office; Day Chapel; Classrooms; and a main gathering center that can serve as a place for weekend Masses as well as for social functions that build community. While we put the dream
list together, cost factors will be considered to determine what is feasible and what is not. Preliminary discussions place the first building location somewhere behind the open field just North of the campus. Parts of it will be visible from Narcoossee Road. When the permanent Church building is built (after we pay off the Life Center), it will be located on the campus in the area that is closer to Narcoossee Road and the traffic light. It will be the most visible building. The future primary/secondary Catholic School (built after the permanent Church is paid off) will be set further in on the campus and will most likely not be seen from the main road. The discussions about the Narcoossee & Boggy Creek Road Expansion Projects are still being formulated with city/state/county officials. (And don’t forget that the Osceola Parkway Expansion Project is supposed to be going through somewhere close to there, as well.) These road discussions have become very involved, and I am grateful to the Diocese of Orlando for taking the reins with this. The process has been going on a good year and a half to two years already – and I am not sure of how (or when) the resolution will occur. As we all know from that intersection – there is a bit of a ‘land lock’ situation. We will need to have, at the least, a ‘left’ turn lane into the campus (heading South), if not ‘left’ and ‘right’ ones. Again, this is out of my scope. What I do know is that the intersection is extremely dangerous – and not sure if this needs to be resolved first. So, in the meantime, our Parish Building Committee continues to move forward in working on a design plan for our first building. When that has reached completion, it will be presented to our Parish Community and a funding campaign will begin.
