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construction update

Dear Parishioners,
I hope you are enjoying your summer! I wanted to give everyone an update on the construction progress at St. Mary’s along with an update on the parking and traffic patterns.

Construction Update

The construction fencing was installed last Monday (7/16) and equipment arrived during the week. By Friday the asphalt on the parking lot had been removed and we finally see the progress being made! This week the excavation started for the elevator and tree removal is underway.

Traffic and Parking Update

Last weekend was the first time that parishioners experienced the limited parking and revised traffic plans. Click HERE for a diagram of parking patterns and parking locations.

We have spent many months planning in the hopes that everyone is informed of the changes and that everything runs as smoothly as possible. Dan Carr, a parishioner at St. Mary’s, is coordinating all traffic and parking patterns during our weekend Masses. I am happy to say that our first weekend was very successful! Here are some highlights from the first weekend:
communication images

All parishioners were very cooperative, understanding, and appreciative. They took direction well. The advance notice at masses, bulletins, Facebook, and website paid off -- people knew what to expect.

We were also blessed that the weather cooperated on Sunday: the downpour stopped exactly at 7:30am and weather was fine the rest of the morning.
limited mobility

Typical (light) summer mass attendance made things easy. All of the spaces around the church and between the church and school are restricted mobility, and 2-6 of those spaces were open at every mass.

For the 11 AM Sunday mass, we have reserved a parking spot for the Brookside senior living community bus. It will be parked in the handicapped spot nearest the ramp.
entrance only sign

If anything, we were overstaffed with parking help. I am sure that everyone noticed all our volunteers in yellow vests helping to manage parking and traffic flow.

We have added extra signage to indicate that the entrance to the church parking lot is now located between the church and the rectory. There is a barrier between the church and the Parish Center to indicate that traffic can only exit from the church/school lot. We will be adding additional signage in the coming weeks.
boy scout troop 175

Boy Scout Troop 175 was spectacular both in getting volunteer spots filled and in directing traffic for all 4 masses.
sign up genius

Parking Help Sign Up

Call For Volunteers

As we move through the summer weeks and into the fall we will continue to have volunteers in the parking lots helping direct traffic. Dan Carr (d.g.carr@comcast.net or 860-670-6742) has created a Sign-Up Genius on line and is asking for volunteers to help through the next few weeks. If you are able, please consider signing up to help when possible. We are looking for parking volunteers to sign up for 1 shift a month during the upcoming months of construction. Below is a link that has sign-ups out to Labor Day. We will stretch this out later once we get our feet underneath us.

Please click HERE to sign-up for a time slot on Sign-Up Genius.

On a separate note, we experienced an air conditioner malfunction in the church this past week. Repairs have been made and we will be cool again this weekend!

I wanted to say thank-you to everyone for their patience and understanding during these upcoming months. It is an exciting time and while it is certainly disruptive we must keep our eye on the prize.

Father Matera
 

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