Greetings from Montreat! Here’s an update on the latest at the conference center. Included below is news on our campus recovery and preparations for the summer season as well as a summary of our ongoing plans for the lodge project and property development.
Preparing for Summer
I’m pleased to report continuing progress as the weather warms. When our maintenance team began its work in October, repairs to each facility were scheduled to align with the timing of anticipated need. Reopening on January 2 was the first goal we set for ourselves, and so Assembly Inn and other winterized facilities became an immediate priority. Remaining buildings were targeted for work in the spring, a logical plan that nevertheless understated what would be required to complete all repairs by June. Turns out, this too was a challenging goal.
For the past several months, on any given day as many as a half dozen contractors and crews are attending to various interior and exterior spaces, in most cases not only repairing but freshening and improving what our facilities will provide. Managing and conducting all of that activity has been a team effort and, as of today, we are still on schedule, even as new teams and new furnishings continue to arrive. Some work will continue into and even beyond the summer, but Montreat is ready to welcome you.
With that in mind, and with another note of gratitude to the Town of Montreat for its own ongoing efforts (including a marvelous upgrade to Welch Field), temper your expectations if you’ve not yet been here since the storm. Though many spaces are “good as new,” Helene left its mark on Montreat: trees fell, rocks were dislodged, and familiar pathways were washed away. Patrons of our wilderness areas, for example, will see some particularly direct evidence of the storm’s power, given that so many of our trails were impacted.
Continued repairs and the natural recovery of the landscape will take time, and yet the fact that so many have already brought us so far, with prayers, good wishes, hard work and financial support, portends a strong future.
Other news and notes as summer approaches:
- Our fiscal year concluded last week, and despite having been closed by the hurricane October-through-December, there was much to celebrate, including a very robust conclusion to our Montreat Fund campaign. Thanks to all of you who contributed to what looks to be a record-breaking year.
- We remain in conversations with our insurers on coverage of our hurricane-related losses. While not resolved, we’re progressing toward what we expect will be a positive outcome.
- Speaking of wilderness (and funding), Montreat Conference Center will soon charge a small fee for the use of designated parking places at our two major trailheads, Lookout and Greybeard. The reasons are twofold: We aim to 1) generate revenue for the maintenance and upkeep of the wilderness areas, and 2) assist with regulating traffic and congestion around trailhead parking, a situation that has posed problems in recent years.
- Thanks are to due Skip and Susie Cothran, Jere Bowden, and a team of volunteers who were in Montreat last week whipping the Montreat Campground into shape. Some veteran Montreaters may be surprised to learn that our campground possesses a devoted following of volunteers and seasonal campers. We’re grateful for the hard work they have undertaken in restoring this important, sacred space.
- Similarly, thanks to the leadership of Sandra Arrowood, a longtime summer staff leader, our child care and pre-Clubs spaces will be clean, refurnished, organized, and prepared to host children when Clubs kick off in June. Sandra may be the ONLY person who possesses sufficient knowledge of both spaces and programs to do that job as well as she has, and we are grateful that she answered our cries for help!
New Lodge Update
Of course, the conference center’s plans for a new lodge remain on the minds of many. Regarding our appeal before the North Carolina Court of Appeals, we have received no news of a decision at the time of this writing, though the court releases decisions on the first and third Wednesday of each month.
For those who have lost track of time, the case has been in one court or another since neighbors took the conference center and the Town of Montreat to court in 2022, claiming that the town’s Board of Adjustment’s decision to grant a special use permit for the building of the lodge had been tainted by bias. In 2023, a Buncombe County Superior Court judge agreed with the neighbors and the permit was set aside. The conference center appealed that decision, and the wait for a resolution drags on.
In the meantime, many conditions have changed, including the world in which new buildings must be built. The inflation our country experienced post-Covid, Hurricane Helene, and the recent threat of an unstable economy have increased considerably construction costs and estimates in western North Carolina, a reality that we must face in our planning going forward.
In the midst of these realities, we continue to evaluate our options, gathering more information about steps available to the conference center moving forward. The board’s design task force continues to meet and report to our board executive committee and full board, which remains committed to developing the property for our mission and ministry. So, while we continue to await a decision from the North Carolina Court of Appeals, we are also moving forward.
That tees up the primary takeaway from this update. Despite the damage from Helene, despite a deliberate legal calendar, and even despite an increasingly challenging construction environment, what has not changed is our calling or our commitment to move forward. The vision we work to achieve – a world transformed by God’s love – will be served in Montreat as we gather in sacred spaces to explore, renew, and connect with our faith, our communities, and ourselves.
Flat Creek may look different these days, but its waters are still flowing and still carrying life through the valley. Like those waters, we move toward a future not only here in Montreat but everywhere God calls us to go.
More to come!
Richard DuBose
President, Montreat Conference Center