Proposal
The Community House Committee has been developing a plan to transform the Community House to make into a year-round useable facility which blends with the natural setting, inside and out. We would encapsulate the building subspace to improve efficiency and reduce the hazard of the open subspace to curious young people. The mice and the ants and the other vermin would lose their all season access to the building. We would install dehumidification and HVAC below the floor, have vents and registers in the floor and returns installed in the existing closets. The design review committee would advise us on how best to dress up the appearance of the capsulation on the outside. Current HVAC technology with heat pumps is very energy efficient. We believe that the system can be run affordably and that maintenance would be set up with a standard HVAC contract, as we all do in our homes.
The Community House committee’s goal would be to condition the air to maybe 80 degrees, with windows closed and fans on. We also would like all our members, especially our retirees and seniors, to be able to access the Community House in the winter for day and night activities, rather than closing the building from November to May. With our improvement plan, perhaps once again we would be able to keep books on these beautiful shelves as we have in the past. During the winter, the building would be kept a 50 degrees and only heated up when events are held.
By transforming the Community House we can continue to build on this vision of a tight knit, beloved community where people congregate, connect and collaborate. Everything we have accomplished in the community – maintaining ravines, having a pool, caring for the land, rebuilding and keeping the historic Tobacco barn, parks and gardens, learning how to better manage our beaches and cliffs – has been done through collective action and commitment. The objectives and plans for these things are all generated from our SCA committees of volunteers who focus on the various areas of concern in the community.
Next Steps
Our schedule is to present the proposal to the Budget Committee June 2024, discuss at the August 2024 meeting, and put it to a vote at the fall meeting. We will be investing time, treasure and talent of our membership into our Community House for All Seasons. Our vision brings the Community House forward into the next 75 years adapting to changes in how we live here, Climate change, and sustainability of our way of life. We hope you share our vision of how to build further on our beloved community in a way that supports members of the community at all stages of their residence here in Scientists Cliffs.