The membership of Bulkley Valley Christian School voted in strong support of extensive upgrades to our facility.
The membership meeting, held at BVCS on the evening of Wednesday, May 22, featured a presentation from the board. Board Chair Dan Hamhuis outlined the Facility Review Committee’s two-year history, the value of their report and the scope of the upgrade project. The project, set to begin immediately, will encompass:
- expanding and changing the flow of the parking lot
- adding fencing and sidewalks
- moving the playground
- replacing the faded blue exterior metal cladding
- renovation of the bathrooms in the main lobby
While these upgrades will have immediate benefit to our school (particularly with parking lot flow and student safety), they also set the stage for possible future facility expansion.
The project will commence immediately with engineering, permitting and other planning. A small board-led committee will liaise between Lubbers Crew Construction (general) and the school. The bulk of the disruptive on-site work (tree removal, excavation, paving) will be done during the summer months of 2024. There are some pricing advantages to the school in completing this project this year versus next year.
The project is budgeted at $1.5 million, supported by a financial plan that uses permanent investment from the school’s financial reserves as well as a self-financing plan of “borrowing” from our own reserves, with repayment from operations budget and donor partner program. The funds that we ‘borrow from ourselves’ will be repaid to the school’s reserves over the next five years at 5%. The school will also make short-term use of our line of credit, with our priority to make repayment with a donor partner program. A small development committee will be struck to direct and run the donor partner program.
The preliminary plan is available here. 24.05.14 BVCS – R6 Plan The plan will now be sent to engineering, with design and technical changes expected.
We are very excited to be stepping into this project as a community, setting the stage for a new generation of Christian education in the Bulkley Valley. We are thankful to God for his provision of leadership and vision by our board, parents and volunteers, and for financial resources with which to tackle this project.