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 Perry Yacht Club

8369 Yacht Club Drive

Meriden, Kansas  66512

(785) 484-2261
Permanent clubhouse: It’s on the way  photos here

 

Monroe Dodd

Vice commodore

s/v Heppy Ket

 

In late October, the club received approval from our insurance company and our bank for construction of the new, permanent clubhouse. PYC’s landlord, the Corps of Engineers, already has given its approval in writing for the project. The kitchen trailer was removed in early November and excavation and concrete pouring occurred the week of Nov. 8. Construction is being done by contractor Tim Allen of Lawrence.

The final plan was determined in October, culminating 11 months of effort that began shortly after our nearly three-decade-old clubhouse burned on November 10, 2009. Budget is about $147, 500 for construction. A contingency fee of up to 5 percent .

The new, three-season clubhouse will comprise two structures aligned on a north-south axis and covered by a single roof. The south structure will contain kitchen and storage facilities. The north structure will contain showers and restrooms. Between the two structures will be a walkway and breezeway. Enclosed space in the two facilities combined will total 1,235 square feet – 50 percent more than existed inside our old clubhouse.

The construction schedule will depend on the weather. As we all know, mid-autumn in Kansas can bring a variety of conditions. The longer our recent run of pleasant days continues, the more the contractor will be able to accomplish. With luck, the foundation can be poured and the building enclosed before severe winter weather sets in. Every expectation is that the clubhouse will be finished well in advance of the 2011 sailing season.

For almost a year, scores of club members pitched in to make the new clubhouse a reality. The process began with the first meeting of the club’s Long-Range Planning Committee, attended by more than 35 interested members. After that, an extensive survey of club members was carried out. A group of club-member architects then went to work, meeting semi-weekly and sometimes weekly to devise plans first for the temporary clubhouse – the trailers that have been here since May. Meanwhile, another committee of clubhouse users offered advice about interior arrangements ranging from the location of sinks and refrigerators to the number of windows and amount of storage.

In May, members of the architect advisers conducted two design workshops, or charrettes, open to all club members. From those results came initial plans, which were put up for bid in July. Four contractors – one from Topeka, one from Olathe, one from Valley Falls and one from Lawrence – submitted bids. Tim Allen’s company was recommended by the architect advisers and approved in early September by PYC’s Board of Governors. The plans then were submitted to the Corps, our insurer and Denison State Bank, leading to final approval this week.

All club members deserve thanks for their ideas, their contributions of time and their patience through the long process.

Several club members deserve special thanks, among them club-member architect Mark Curfman, who spent hours of time, much of it volunteered and some for compensation, to devise and draft the final plans; Club Treasurer Rich Wells, who set the budget, watched over spending and bird-dogged our bank and insurance company; Building and Grounds Director Penny Morgan, who led the clubhouse advisory committee; Rear Commodore Matt Gatewood, who prepared the member survey; and, of course, Commodore Bruce Liese, who participated in nearly every meeting and helped guide the process toward its successful completion.

Architect adviser committee

Jackson Clark

Mark Curfman

Jean Dodd

Adrian Eszter

Chris Ross

Jim Swords

Monroe Dodd

Penny Morgan

Bruce Liese

 

Clubhouse advisory committee

Joan Allen

Barb Clark

Norm Clark

Shirley Cline

Chris Drayer

Jeff Johansen

Cheri Sharkey

Gary Templeton

Penny Morgan

Monroe Dodd

Bruce Liese

 

And…

Hal Havens, BRR Architecture

John Hayworth, Barn Guys North

Lee Cline

Ed Hockenberg

Scott Kessler

Richard Oben

Gregg Paste

Ric Tucker

clubhouseplans

Over fifty club members participated in the first clubhouse design charrette May 8.

Charrettes – Part II

 

More than 50 club members completed the two-part round of clubhouse charrettes on May 22, discussing the results of Part I and advising the committee of architects about how they’d like the permanent clubhouse to wind up.

Talking over a strong southerly wind, Jim Swords, Chris Ross and others led participants through each of the eight designs prepared two weeks earlier by club members in eight working groups. Those designs had been transferred to paper by the club-member architects. The eight were distilled into three that had common elements.

One version formed an “L” shape with structures on the north and west sides of the concrete pad. The second version placed showers and restrooms up the hill near the lagoon, and placed the kitchen west of the pad. The third version grouped everything on the west side of the pad.

Using stickers, participants showed they preferred putting all the units next to the pad. A majority favored grouping everything on the west side. With that advice in hand – and with the limits of the club budget in mind – the club-member architects will begin bringing the permanent clubhouse closer to reality.

The architects, who have volunteered their time to meet every other week since late November, included Swords, Chris Ross, Mark Curfman, Adrian Eszter and Jackson Clark.

 

Monroe Dodd

Chair, long-range planning

s/v Heppy Ket

__________________________

Temporary facilities:
We’re almost there.

Permanent clubhouse: Come to the charrettes

 

The two temporary trailers – one containing showers and restrooms, the other containing kitchen and storage – are on site at the club. The new concrete pad was poured April 28 and our contractor is rapidly hooking up water, sewer and electricity.

That puts us on pace to be up and running by Saturday, May 8, the sailing season’s first big weekend. At 11 a.m. that day, we’ll have our first clubhouse charrette, or workshop. At 6 p.m., we’ll celebrate at the Ocho de Mayo party.

The charrette will give every club member a chance to hear and offer ideas for our permanent clubhouse. Many of us in early 2009 participated in a PYC charrette that led to a master plan for the entire club grounds. This charrette will focus on the clubhouse. It will also be shorter: two or three hours.

If the weather suits, we’ll do the charrette at the club, on our club tables on our new pad. If rain or high winds intervene, we’ll move to Commodore Bruce Liese’s property near Lecompton, where we can gather in the barn.

Club member Jim Swords, s/v Espadon and a senior architect with Populous,will lead the session, helped by other club-member architects who have worked through the winter to plan our temporary replacement. They’ll help all of us think about clubhouse goals and establish priorities.  We’ll break into groups and create our own clubhouse designs, which will help us consider our possibilities – and our limits.

Who participates? Any and every club member. Please mark your calendar and plan to attend.

Two weeks later, at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 22, we’ll all gather at the club again to see and comment on ideas that the club-member architects have devised as a result of the first workshop.

These workshops -- along with the clubwide survey last year and the work of advisory groups ever since -- represent the biggest component of PYC’s rebuilding project. Make sure you’re involved.

 

Monroe Dodd

Chair, Long-Range Planning

s/v Heppy Ket

090428_towardslake

Weather permitting, temporary facilities will go in this week

 

One of the two ModSpace trailers that will replace our clubhouse temporarily is on the PYC grounds. The other is scheduled to arrive Monday, April 26. After that, everything will be hooked up and the club will truly be up and running for 2010.

The trailer containing showers and restrooms arrived on the grounds April 22, but rain and mud prevented it from being placed on its site. If the rain stays away, and all goes according to plan, a ModSpace truck will tow it up to its new location -- where the caretakers' fifth-wheel trailer once sat -- April 26. Afterward, ModSpace will move the trailer containing kitchen and storage facilities to its site -- the level of the old clubhouse.

Allen Improvement Inc. of Lawrence, which has graded the grounds to allow the trailers to be placed, will attach electric, water and sewer lines to both trailers, build access steps for both and lay a concrete pad.

Once the pad is ready, we'll put in place a temporary shelter against sun and rain, courtesy of Gary and Nancy Templeton and their friends who attend the Walnut River Festival each year in Winfield, Kansas. The shelter is like our shelter on Leone's Landing, only bigger -- 30 feet by 30 feet. It will be available for club use most of the summer, until the Walnut River festival. By then, we plan to have ordered and placed a well-constructed permanent shelter.

All these facilities -- except for the shelter -- will be paid from our insurance proceeds designated for a temporary replacement.

Thanks for your patience. With help from the weather, it should soon be rewarded.

    

_________________________________________________________________________

December 2009 -- the ruins are removed
091219_clubhouse site1   091219_clubhouse site3

 


 

Clubhouse burns

Lightning possible cause

PYC’s clubhouse, nearly three decades old, went up in flames Tuesday morning.

Only the concrete-block walls remained. The roof over the showers and restrooms burned and collapsed, along with the roof over the patio. Kitchen facilities and items stored above the restrooms were destroyed. The social shed was burned to the ground along with its contents.

The deck flooring was charred several feet east of the patio. Several picnic tables were destroyed and several suffered blistered paint. No other club structures, including the playground and the new caretakers’ residence, were affected. No boats were harmed.

Caretaker Gregg Paste discovered the fire about 6:15 a.m. He called 9-1-1 and the Rock Creek Township fire department sent several trucks to the club. The first firemen arrived at 6:38 a.m., but the fire had spread too quickly for the structure to be saved.

Early indications were that the fire was caused by lightning. An insurance inspector said records showed 44 lightning strikes in a five-mile radius of the yacht club in a four-hour period overnight. State fire marshals, who also inspected the mass of charred timber and of burned and twisted metal, will file their report later this week.

The fire put the clubhouse kitchen and restrooms out of service. The immediate area has been marked off with warning tape, and no items within it are salvagable. Members and guests are asked to remain outside the damaged area for their own safety.

Portable restrooms have arrived on site; they are next to the equipment- storage shed at the top of the stairs to the docks. Electricity is still on, except in the clubhouse area, and water is available from hydrants near the flagpole and the caretakers’ fifth-wheel temporary home.

Commodore Scott Kessler said members would be kept updated on plans for replacing the clubhouse, which was insured for $67,000. Its contents were insured for $15,000. The club has a $10,000 deductible.

The clubhouse was constructed in 1980. The deck was a later addition.