Blue Fire Needs Your Voice with the City

Our first opportunity to be heard in the City of Berkeley regarding our new building will be on November 4, 2021, starting at 7 pm! As part of our project review, it needs to appear before the Landmarks Preservation Commission for their advisory comments. Our campus is not a landmark and that is for the better so the Commission does not …

August 15 Learning Hour: Blue Fire Committee

Sunday, August 15, 12:15 pmhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/88967740143?pwd=M1pqRE92SnZBbjZKNmpvelBKVTNRdz09ID: 889 6774 0143 Passcode: 261432 The Blue Fire Committee is looking forward to presenting the latest plans for the replacement of Pilgrim Hall on Sunday during the Learning Hour. The committee has been working with our architects to prepare plans for submission to the City of Berkeley that will move us through the approval process …

Update from the Blue Fire Committee

The Blue Fire Committee and the project architects, Seigel and Strain, are currently expecting a more accurate estimate to arrive from our construction project managers based on the 41 pages of architectural, landscape and engineering drawings and multiple pages of system’s narratives produced by our design team working with the Blue Fire committee. We are very excited by the design …

Fire Recovery

First Church has successfully concluded months of negotiation to recover a portion of our uninsured fire loss from the roofing company believed to be responsible for the 2016 fire that destroyed Pilgrim Hall and damaged the Sanctuary. The church will receive $522,000 from the roofer’s insurer.  The rebuilding program developed by the Blue Fire team and endorsed by the congregation …

Blue Fire Affordable Housing Committee Forming

Are you passionate about affordable housing? Are you excited that we have voted to pursue the development of affordable housing on our campus? Good news — you have the opportunity to help our vision grow to fruition! Our Blue Fire team, who has been working tirelessly for several years to get us to this place, has only just begun its …

The Blue Fire Committee Proposal Explained

by Moe Wright, Church Treasurer, for the Blue Fire Committee For those who attended the Blue Fire presentation on April 26,  you will recall that the committee had three recommendations: Pay the remaining balance on our loan from the Berkeley Pilgrimage Foundation (BPF). Build a Community Building that meets our needs and can be rented out. Sell or long-term lease …

Blue Fire Team Rebuilding Update

Next Congregational Forum on May 17 ► Watch the Presentation Here► View the Slides Here The Blue Fire Team presented their recommendations to a robust webinar with 100+ participants on Sunday. In their presentation, the team recommended constructing a New Community Building on the Pilgrim Hall site. This new building will be 8,000-10,000 square feet in size, constructed with green …

Blue Fire Committee Update — Congregational Forum April 26

Sunday, April 26, 11:30 amhttps://zoom.us/j/99325221560?pwd=ZnB1REhGQXlzVVJ1cDJZQTRZVmxUdz09 The Blue Fire Committee has been making progress on our work to evaluate options to replace Pilgrim Hall. With everything that has been going on over the past few weeks, it is taking a bit longer than expected to get all the information we need to make an informed decision. We want to postpone our …