Report on the NR Planning Commission Hearing

Report on the NR Planning Commission Hearing

The master plan we are calling Building Faith; A New Generation has been passing through three formal levels of approval: parishioner consultation, diocesan/bishop approval, and City of North Royalton. 


As has been reported many times, the final version of our master plan began in the year 2014 informally and 2016 formally with the formation of the master plan subcommittee and the engagement of Environmental Design Group engineering and public landscaping consultants.  As the consultants worked with our parish, various official groups of parishioners were involved, consulted, and asked for approval.  Those groups were the finance council, the pastoral council, and the school advisory council.  At various steps along the way, these groups were interviewed separately and collectively to glean guidance and input as to the needs, the proposed design solutions, and the financing of this project.  Lastly, the entire congregation was consulted through the March 2019 in-pew survey which resulted in the decision to go forward with the plan. 


From the beginning of that parish level consultation/approval, the pastor and the subcommittee has had repeated interventions with the bishop of the diocese, the bishop's temporal goods committee, the diocesan building commission, the diocesan legal office and finance office.  So with every contract that was signed, every consultant/contractor that was hired, the final site plan and architectural designs, the house plans - all of it was examined by the experts and staff members of the bishop's offices. Each of our plans has been approved after small modifications to conform to diocesan policy and practice. In fact, the bishop actually signs all of the contracts over $25,000 in value.

Beginning in the summer of 2018 Fr. Estok, the subcommittee members, our architecture and construction firms have been meeting with various city officials including the mayor and his staff, the city engineer, the legal office, the economic development office and others.  This diligent interaction with various parities in North Royalton helped us to successfully engage with the City Planning Commission on Wednesday, Dec. 4th.  The first portion of the meeting was a public hearing in which our plans announced and any members of the community were welcome to comment and question us. The public hearing was followed by the Planning Commission meeting at which our architects and engineers were questioned.  The meeting ended with a unanimous approval of our plans for Building Faith: A New Generation.