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The Land Made Whole
The 2005 Land Purchase
Land, green land with trees and water
and dirt; has always been central to my life. And I have spent most
of my life figuring out how to live with and on Land. Ten years ago
that resulted in Four Quarters and the Stone Circle. Just another
way for Orren to spend as much time as possible on the Land. Well
you know what they say about best laid plans of mice and men!
Little did I know that deep inside my idea of Four Quarters
lay the seed of a church, and little did I know how much its sprouting
would define my next ten years. But it did not take long after the
birth of this church to know that the basic principle remained the
same. Land. To own, steward and care for Land was as important to
the future of Four Quarters as it is to my personal sensibilities.
Perhaps that explains why I could give so much Land to this Church,
because my own needs and goals remain the same, but seem to me more
permanently safe and secure when intrusted to the safekeeping of the
Church. At least I certainly hope it works out that way.
This is a roundabout way of breaking into the
subject of this article, “Four Quarters Made Whole.” Because
it has always seemed to me that Four Quarters could never be whole
until it owned all of the Land that is used by the Church. And that
problem has weighed on my mind for the past seven years; just how
does this rag-tag bunch of urban tribal, idealistic nature worshipers
and ceremonial junkies go about building a permanent institution;
one that can own and support a large tract of Land into the future?
To own and care for Land in today’s world is largely a
financial process, one that has had many financial steps along the
way. Securing major liability insurance for the Church and a Pennsylvania
state non-profit tax number was one step. An excellent banking relationship
with a commercial line of credit, along with merchant credit card
services was another. And the history of being able to count on our
Membership to contribute significantly to our fund-raising drives
is the ten-league step.
Our first foray into land ownership began in 1999, when we
placed $10,000 cash down to purchase the Members Village (Lot 1 on
the map), with the owner (Roy Geisler) financing the remaining $12,000
over five years. At the time this church was still living month to
month financially, and the down payment was raised from that years
Lifetime Promoting Memberships. We had a bad case of the nervous nellies
for the additional monthly payments, but the decision was immediately
vindicated by the use to which we were able to put the additional
sleeping space. And in the following years the monthly payments seemed
small as our plans grew large.
To my own mind, that purchase vindicated much in the way of
the health of our community and gave me confidence in the ability
of our Board of Directors and Membership to take on real responsibility.
In 2001 I decided to challenge the Members of Four Quarters into raising
the $35,000 that would be required in order for me to give the Church
the 50 odd acres of the Liesinger tract. This was a much larger test,
because although the property was worth upwards of $150,000 it carried
about $70,000 in debt. And the mortgage was held by a father and son.
The son, Ed Liesinger, was willing to carry a short term note for
his share, but only if his fathers one half interest was paid in cash.
That meant that the Church had to raise at least $35,000 in cash in
order to take title to the property, even with the gift of my own
equity interest. The Churches credit references and the fact that
we had already purchased property worked in our favor to convince
the son to extend a mortgage to the church. So we launched our first
major capitol funds drive, our Members came through with their end
of the commitment and the deal went through. We were on our way with
almost fifty acres of Land.
But their remained the 40 acres of Land that the Church used
for Main Parking, The Stone Circle and the Big Bottom Members Camp.
Because these parts of the camp were all part of the 80+ plus acres
of the Barnes tract, they presented a much more complex problem (noted
as Lots 2, 3 and Whiddon on the Map). When the Barnes tract was originally
purchased it carried a $120,000 residential bank mortgage, and in
order to transfer the 40 acres used as the camp to the Church, the
property would have to be divided and then refinanced by a bank with
a commercial loan. Commercial loans are a different animal altogether
than a conventional residential mortgage for a persons home. They
are a much higher bar to jump.
To do this would require that the churches properties, which
would be our offered collateral for the load, must be worth considerably
more than the loan amount. The land valued as agricultural property
would probably not be worth enough to float the loan, so the value
of the improvements to the property would be very important. We did
have some buildings in place and a good road system, but from a banks
point of view we lacked the most important asset a camp can have.
No legal sanitation system.
So beginning in late winter of last year we began the process of soils
testing for in ground septic systems; not only in camp, but also for
expansion at the Farm House and the Members Village. This required
testing at four separate sites on the property and quickly turned
into a herculean task. With our new backhoe we dug eleven separate
six foot deep test pits located in the North Crook, by the Farm House,
below the Members Village and just uphill from the Members Village
at the new Casita Nueva. After the test pits were approved we conducted
percolation tests at the sites, in all over 100 perc tests were performed
and four separate sites passed their soil tests. At this point we
needed to retain an engineering/surveying firm for three reasons.
To survey the new property lines that would be created when I subdivided
off my gift to the church; to design the major septic system that
would serve the camp; and to prepared the voluminous application paperwork
for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
We submitted our preliminary commercial loan application right after
Beltaine and completed our soils testing by mid summer. Our engineers
completed their survey and design work right after Stones Rising and
we submitted our paperwork in October. All together the testing and
engineering amounted to $7,000; all represented by a two inch high
stack of paper!
Our application to the Pennsylvania D.E.P.
was in two parts. The First, referred to as a Component 1, was to
allow the division of my property into three parts. Lot 2 as a site
for a new Staff and Members quarters (The Casita Nueva) with septic
approval; Lot 3 as the new 40 acre addition to the Main Camp and my
remaining property (the Farm House) Lot 4, with approval for an expanded
septic system.
The second part, Component 2, was the biggy. A large septic
system for the Main Camp. Once again, because this was a commercial
property with relatively large water flows, a much more complicated
approval process was necessary for the camp system than was required
for the Component 1 systems.
I am very proud and pleased with the engineering work that
went into this Component 2 proposal, and I will try to put it into
perspective. In Pennsylvania a modern three bedroom home would be
designed for 600 gallons a day of water usage with a 1,500 gallon
digestion tank. For commercial systems the state uses formulas for
different kinds of uses and water flows in order to calculate the
size of the system. When approached as a fairground, we worked out
to 3,000 gallons a day of water through the system. But our testing
showed that down in the North Crook we had almost perfect percolation
rates that would allow a larger and more advanced system. What we
ended up designing for is a completely passive system that requires
no power or chemicals, with two 3,500 gallon digestion tanks, supporting
a flow of about 4,000 gallons a day into a wide, shallow trench system,
which has the greatest ability to absorb and digest waste with aerobic
action. Materials for this system will run about $12,000 and we plan
on performing the labor ourselves. By going this route we will have
a system that will support any kind of future growth we can imagine,
while having the ability to handle large peak flow loads from large
events. All without stressing the system or putting it at risk.
With our engineering work done it was time
to shepherd the paperwork though the county government, while increasing
the heat of the bank loan to a strong simmer. Based upon our expectation
that our septic plans would be approved, we paid $2,000 for a commercial
appraisal on what would become the church’s combined properties,
thus formalizing the loan request. We also met with our township supervisors
to submit our planning package, the biggest Mann Township has ever
seen. There were many ups and downs in the process with both the bank
and the county as you can imagine, but the appraisal came back at
twice the proposed loan amount, making the bank smile; and we gained
tentative approvals for all of our planning documents.
We began closing in on the goal and thinking in terms of how much
risk to take on with the bank. (And here you should know that it is
the Board of Directors goal to be able to pay off the mortgage as
quickly as possible, preferably within five years. You should also
know that Orren Whiddon, Kailin Miller and Roger Grandstaff agreed
to personally guarantee the loan on the Churches behalf.) To pay off
the existing three mortgages would require about $130,000, and by
going for a 15 year note we could lower the interest rates to 7.4%
(very low for commercial money) and keep our intention to pay the
loan as soon as possible. To this add the money necessary to build
the septic system and we settled on a loan of $145,000. With the church’s
property appraising at $275,000, this would certainly be approved
by the bank and yet still yield a monthly payment less than that on
the original three mortgages. And it provides us with a $15,000 nest
egg to construct the system this spring.
On the 19th of January, 2005; Orren Whiddon, Roger Grandstaff,
Kailin Miller and Daniel MacNeil met with Pat Mac Cormick of First
United Bank and Trust; and transferred four separate tracts of property
into a new mortgage and deeds in the name of Four Quarters. Two days
later the final approval for our Component 1 package arrived and I
will make the final presentation to the Township Supervisors for our
Component 2 package on January 27th. In the end, it has all come together
like a fine game of chess. Four Quarters Made Whole.
Planning the financial future of the Church
and the Land has been my job from the very beginning, and I can assure
you there were years when surviving another season seemed in doubt.
But my confidence in the future of this rather unorthodox institution
has grown with the years, and that confidence has been matched by
my willingness to intrust my property, my Land... to the safekeeping
of Four Quarters and its Members. I can now feel secure that Four
Quarters is rooted strong and deep; whether or not I or any person
in particular is a part of it. That’s been the goal all along.
I think at this point that I have probably done enough in the way
of gift giving of Land. And I feel good about what these gifts have
brought back to me. I feel especially good about all the other players
in the story of Four Quarters first ten years. People whose support,
loyalty and whose actions in the Spirit of The Giveaway are not as
well known as my own; but to my personal knowledge are no less important.
So for me this last gift of Land not only marks the end of Four Quarter’s
first decade but also the beginning of a new chapter in my own life.
Because I feel sure that my personal guarantee of Four Quarters survival
is no longer needed, and I trust that the Members can fully take that
responsibility on their own shoulders. If you value your place in
the web of friends, family and tribe that has grown up at Four Quarters,
you will prove that my trust was never, ever misplaced.
Blessings upon you and your house.
Orren Whiddon, Four Quarters January 2005
Service, Ceremony and
Celebration
Joining the World of Spirit and the World of Today
a Work of Years... Stone by Stone
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