May 23, 2007 by Al Hammer.

Today, Harry Rowell called me to get permission to visit the work site. I met him at the site where he took some video footage to put up on the screen for the next couple of Sundays. While we were there, I grabbed a couple of pictures and got the latest on what is happening.

Today they were pouring the bases for the light poles in the parking lots.

The pad has completely been poured for the lower level. In the foreground front and center of the picture you can see where the exterior doors will be entering in to a small little indoor amphitheater where there will be steps and you can see the ramp goes up to the main level of the lower “Narthex”.

The picture below is one where I am standing in the entryway that I refer to above and I am looking up the 2 or 3 steps that will eventually take you up the ledge in the foreground. The opening in the background is the exterior doors that will open up on to the exterior Amphitheater that comes down to the lower “Narthex” from the front of the building.

This next picture is of the same Amphitheater looking from the front of the building down into the lower “Narthex”.

The really big news is that BG&E has finally finished their work down on Montgomery Road. We will begin construction of the excel and accel lanes on Montgomery Road and finish up the road all the way to our entrance starting next Tuesday May 29th. The site work subcontractor is also doing the final review work of the approve plans for the upper part of the realigned New Cut Road as we speak. They will also begin on Tuesday to put up sediment control structures for the building of the upper road. Once these controls are approved by the County with a site inspection, and they finish the review of the design of the road they will start construction on the upper road. Estimated build time will be approximately 6 to 8 weeks with no snags.

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May 16, 2007 by Al Hammer.

On Friday 5/11 we were granted the grading permit by Howard County for starting work on the upper part of the realignment of New Cut Road. This part of the realigned New Cut Road is a shared project between Glen Mar and Howard County and falls under their jurisdiction as a Capital Project. Glen Mar will be building this part of the road using the subcontractor our General Contractor is using for site work and be reimbursed by Howard County for their portion of the expense for the road. This upper part of the road will be connected to Glen Mar’s part which goes from Montgomery Road to the entrance to our parking lots.

So that the site work subcontractor does not have to mobilize twice we have been waiting on the point where the Montgomery Road work by BG&E is finished and we can begin building the excel and decel lanes along with getting this grading permit so they can just move right on up the road and keep on building until the whole realigned New Cut Road is finished.

BG&E just about had the utilities on Montgomery Road moved when we ran into two obstacles.

1) BG&E discovered that a pole sitting in the middle of the future excel lane was not theirs to move or remove, but that it was actually under the custodialship of Verizon. We were told Verizon would take another 90 to 100 days to remove the pole, which would put a halt on the work in that area for quite a while. Fortunately, God is Good! and the pole was removed in 15 days and that no longer is an obstacle.

2) BG&E was working on the task of moving utilities (Gas and Electric lines) further back onto our property so that we could build the needed excel and decel lanes. The State of Maryland in conjunction with what we are doing is wanting to make improvements to try and correct a water drainage problem on Montgomery Road just beyond our property. The State therefore asked BG&E to hold up on making the final reconnections until they had their part of the work designed and had BG&E move their part of the utilities at the same time. This was to be another major indefinite slow down on progress. A meeting was held and terms negotiated and engineers collaborated and a plan was developed. A new timeline was set in place and the estimate for BG&E to finish their work in front of our property is by the end of next week 5/25.

All of this is said, to say that since timing looks good on getting the Montgomery Road section ready for construction, and we have a grading permit for the upper part of the road,…. we should see some action on the road soon with completion not being too far away.

No, I still don’t know about a signal at the new intersection. But I have been told that the State is doing their traffic studies to “warrant” the possibility of a Signal there. Howard County is working closely with the State on this issue and it is out of our hands.

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March 27, 2007 by Al Hammer.

The pad where the building sits continues to move forward with the south wall of the lower level getting more walls each day. This picture is more work on the south wall. This is the rebar that is ready for the concrete wall to be poured over it. They will form up the wall tomorrow and pour it on Thursday.

Here is the view from the east looking at the building pad, approximately where the web cam will be viewing from.

This picture is at our first “Progress Meeting” with Oak Contracting’s Project Manager, Bud Woodward, in the foreground, Alexander Design Studio’s Project Architect, Phyllis Cook in the middle and one of the sub contractors in the background.

This is also the first day of BG&E’s work on moving the utilities out of our way so that we can build the acceleration and deceleration lanes on Rt 103 where the “new” New Cut Road intersection will be.

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March 22, 2007 by Al Hammer.

The workers continue to pour the building footers, the south wall on the Multipurpose Building has been formed up and the plumbers have laid the pipe work through the wall. Tomorrow, there should be about 4 truck loads of concrete delivered to start pouring the wall.

This photo is about the view from the webcam — only a little lower.

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