On February 26, 2009, members of your Church Council and Board of Trustees met with the chairs of the Vision, Development, Fundraising and Transition Task Forces.  At that time the Task Forces presented their findings to date and made a recommendation to partner with a developer.  If you are unclear about the path that has been taken to bring us to this point, please click here to refer to the letter dated January 22, 2009.  This letter outlines the issues we face and the reasons why we are looking at an affiliation with a developer. 

At this meeting, Council and Trustees voted to accept the recommendation of the Development Task Force to pursue a construction project with Stephen Baker, a local developer.  Mr. Baker, in association with Life Lease Associates of Canada and Parallel Realty Inc., proposes to construct an 80-unit life-lease retirement residence on St. Paul’s’ land and to provide us with 12,000 square feet of worship, administrative, and meeting space.  More information can be found on the Life Lease Associates of Canada website at www.life-lease.com

Please click here to read the February 27 letter explaining the next steps and to answer some of your questions. Further to this letter, it was determined that voting by proxy or by mail is not permitted in the conduct of United Church business and we must adhere to this rule. Please click here to read the March 9 letter addressing this situation.

Congregational votes were held on April 15, 16 and 19, and 65.3% of the membership who voted were in favour of authorizing St. Paul's Council and Trustees to sign a Letter of Intent with Stephen Baker to develop a new life lease residence and church facility on the property owned by St. Paul's. 34.7% were not in favour. As a result, the motion was passed. Please click here to read the April 20 letter outlining the next steps.

A press release was issued on May 4, 2009 to outline the reasons for moving forward with the Letter of Intent.

A letter from our chair of council, Kathy Sellers, was printed in the Milton Canadian Champion on Friday July 3. This letter explained the reasoning behind the recommendation.

On Monday September 28, Council Chair Kathy Sellers, and Trustees Co-Chairs Rev. John Benham and Rev. Sarah Fanning signed the Letter of Intent to develop the life lease residence and church facility on the property owned by St. Paul's. At the signing, Pete Hoyle, Mission Development Officer of Halton Presbytery, read this statement, on behalf of Halton Presbytery.