How many fees are we going to have to pay to build? The way we calculate it right now is that we are going to have to pay about $100,000 in fees.  These are impact fees, building permit fees, water and sewer fees, and road improvement fees.  We will continue to update this blog entry as we firm up those costs.

Water and Sewer: One challenge of building our new church is how water and sewer are going to be provided to our site.  This is important for our church because of our need not only for clean drinking water, but also for fire hydrants in case of a fire.  There is a water line at the north east corner of the intersection of our property.  We have recently secured permission to bring the water line down and under Livingston Road.  The sewer line is not as close, so we are planning to use a septic tank and drain field because of the cost of bringing the sewage line to our property is considerably higher.

Preliminary Site Approval:  Our civil engineer has been diligently designing a master plan for our site.  This includes sewer, water, entrances, signs, landscaping, play areas, and building pad.  We are negotiating now with Pasco County on the amount of road frontage that we are going to be required to donate to the county in return for a building permit.

About Church Bonds: We have been in contact with a church bond company for many years now knowing this was a viable option.  The basic premise is that this company will come into our church and sell bonds in $500 increments with maturity dates varying from six months to twenty years.  They are very competitive in interest rates and have a great track record.  Any bonds not sold within the congregation would be sold to the bond companies “book” (past customers who invest regularly with their company).

What are the challenges holding up construction? The main challenge right now is the finances necessary to proceed.  We need $200,000 before we can continue.  This is to pay off the land and have $100,000 in the bank to cover our costs during the building season.  Another challenge is the financing of the building project.  As you probably know, banks are not loaning any money to anyone right now.  A second option that we are investigating is selling church bonds.