Please join us on Sunday, May 30, 2021, at 11:30 am for the Forbes Hall/Arizona Entrance Fire/Safety Repair Project Town Hall to discuss much-needed repairs to the Arizona lobby doors. The Zoom information will be sent to members.
You may have noticed before the pandemic that our double doors at the Arizona Ave. entrance were having trouble, with only one door operational. Over the past year of hiatus, the problem has worsened. Now neither of the doors opens. The ground is shifting slightly, and some cracks have developed in the floor.
Your Facilities Development and Maintenance Committee (FDMC) is working on the problem. We have met with our architect and engineers, who have gathered data and will prepare recommendations and will develop drawings. They have plans in the works to submit to the City of Santa Monica.
After that, contractor bids will be accepted, and work will begin as soon as possible.
As you can imagine, this is a costly endeavor. Prior to the Annual Meeting on June 27, 2021, the UUSM members will vote on a Resolution to Repair / Replace the Forbes Hall Entrance:
“The congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica authorizes an expenditure of up to $200,000 from the Catastrophe Reserve and Emergency Reserve for the structural repair and improvement of the Arizona Lobby.”
In addition to restoring safe access to Forbes that is wheelchair accessible, the project will include the replacement of the doors into the Garden of Eternity with new, code-compliant glass doors.
The new doors will provide views into the Garden, as well as alternative access to the memorial garden on Sundays for family and friends who want to remember those who have died and are memorialized with engraved bricks or benches there.
We plan to have work completed over the summer so that the doors will be operational by In-Gathering in mid-September.
Additional details will be provided in your packet for the Annual Meeting, which you will receive via postal mail and/or email the first week of June.
