Triad members gave the New Building Team the go ahead Oct. 20 to delay the closing on 92 acres of land behind the church until the end of December 2014.

The proposal garnered 85.8 percent of the 316 ballots cast, with 7.6 percent voting no and 6.6 percent abstaining.

View from above Madison Place Apartments off Masten Drive showing part of the 92 acres.

Earlier this spring, the Executive Leadership Team authorized Triad to put $10,000 in earnest money toward a possible purchase of the land, and the church has since entered into an agreement to purchase the property for $1,350,000.

Jeff Hunter, the head deacon for Building and Grounds and a New Building Team member, said Oct. 16 at the business meeting that the landowners had agreed to delay the closing on the property from March 2014 to the end of December 2014.

In return, the church would make interest-only payments of $5,625 a month during the pre-closing period—or 5 percent of the sales price divided into monthly payments. In addition to the vote by Triad members this Sunday, the agreement must be ratified by the court clerk overseeing the estate.

With the new Worship Center/Gym under construction, Hunter said that the delay will allow the church to complete its Phase 2 building plan before turning to financing, planning and development for the new land.

Soil, survey and other engineering work will be required as well as rezoning. Hunter said about 70 percent of the land is usable. Even with the amount that must be left undeveloped under local zoning rules to protect the watershed, the purchase would still provide enough property to more than double Triad’s existing 32.66-acre campus.

Part of the site near Hill-N-Dale Street (see houses) being considered for a soccer/track and field/football combination field.

“We definitely plan to buy the land,” Hunter said. “But we knew we would not be ready with all the construction going on now and thought it would be better if we delay it, and the owners said they would extend the closing date for us.”

During the business meeting, members asked if the church had considered buying the property now and rolling the amount into the existing debt due to rising interest rates. Dennis Roberts, executive administrator (church and academy operations), said that the church’s new bank, Bank of North Carolina, wants a year of experience under the current building loan before considering additional financing.

Other members asked if the church could sell part of the property later, and Hunter said that was an option. At the business meeting, members received a printout showing some of several possibilities for initial development of the new land: a baseball/softball field; a soccer/track and field/football combination; practice field; concession; access path from the existing campus; and an eventual entryway drive north of Madison Place Apartments.

Aden Stoltzfus, an engineer and New Building Team member, said the parcel gives the church a lot of flexibility. “There is enough land to where you could really put a whole new church campus over there if you wanted to,” he said. “We have been looking at that property for some time, and it really gives us room for growth for many years to come. Without it, we’d really be landlocked at some point.”

About two years ago, the family's broker approached the church to purchase this land for about $2.2 million. Then the church got the opportunity last spring to purchase the land for the current price, which is 20 percent less than the appraised value.

Member Dean Smith was pleased to learn about the church’s plans. He lives at the end of Wyndfall Drive adjacent to the land Triad would own. “It’s great to have the church as a neighbor instead of a commercial development,” he said.

Along with the closing extension, other items approved Oct. 20 included:

• The hiring of Anna Caranci to join Lori Compton as a staff accompanist. Caranci, a piano performance major at Piedmont Baptist College, and her husband, Jason, joined Triad in 2006. She would fill the position of a former accompanist who resigned in April.
  
  
• Adding former deacons Steve Coley, Dwight Moore and Harold Simcox to the deacon board as well as a new deacon, Retired Army National Guard Chaplain Col. Allen Ferry, who joined the church with his wife, Theresa, daughter, Julaine, and her adopted son, Enoch, in September 2012.