Town of Newburgh’s Leptondale Bible Church unveils renovations

By Connor Linskey
Posted 3/17/21

On Sunday, March 7, the Leptondale Bible Church held a special service acknowledging their renovations.

A new elevator has been installed, which will help handicapped as well as older members of …

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Town of Newburgh’s Leptondale Bible Church unveils renovations

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On Sunday, March 7, the Leptondale Bible Church held a special service acknowledging their renovations.

A new elevator has been installed, which will help handicapped as well as older members of the congregation who have difficulty walking up stairs.

“It gives us the ability to make the building fully accessible to people who are handicapped, disabled, injured,” said Michael O’Dowd, senior pastor for the church. “Now they can go up and down, which is important because the way our building is configured, the bathrooms and a lot of the classrooms are downstairs.”

New windows and doors have been put in by the church’s main entrance. O’Dowd noted that this greatly enhances the foyer’s atmosphere.

“There was no light coming into this room at all,” he said. “Now it’s open, it’s bright. It’s just a more welcoming space for people to come into.”

In addition, new staircases have been installed as well as flooring. The walls have also been replaced in the church’s fellowship hall as well as other hallways.

“Those stairs that go up and down now, they replaced a narrow set of stairs that was hard to get up and down,” O’Dowd said. “The landings were short. You had to step up and there was not a lot of room for your feet. It was also dark and cramped and now it’s wide open. The steps are easy to negotiate all the way up into the balcony… The fellowship hall where the elevator goes down into has just been made completely wide open, new floors. That’s a place where when we’re not under COVID, we normally spend a lot of time just gathering together, talking, just sharing with one another.”

The renovation project began in October 2019 when the church contacted Linda Zwart, an architect based in the Town of Montgomery, about installing an elevator and renovating the church. She did an initial assessment and was hired for the project in November 2019.

On July 29, 2020, Zwart presented plans for the renovations as well as the installation of the elevator. A proposition was recommended by the church’s elders as well as the renovation team to set aside $200,000 for the project, which was overseen by the church’s trustee board. A vote was taken and passed.

On Nov. 19, the church signed a contract with Northern Lifts Elevator Company, who worked on the construction and installation of the elevator. On Dec. 1, John Lindholm, chair of the church’s elders, signed a contract with Andrew VanDam, who served as the general contractor for the project.

January was a busy month for the construction of the project. On Jan. 6, walls were demoed in the room around the church’s lower staircase. Four days later, the lower stairs were removed. Concrete was cut out and the base was excavated for the elevator. On the eleventh, the base of the elevator was framed and filled with concrete. On Jan. 13 and Jan. 14, the lower walls were removed and the lower staircase was delivered. The lower staircase was installed and electrical work began on the fourteenth. Jan. 15 saw the installation of temporary handrails as cleanup and electrical work continued.

The project progressed on Jan. 18 when the stairs and walls to the balcony were ripped out, including the foyer’s ceiling and half of the balcony. Jan. 19-21 saw major improvements, as new windows were installed as well as stairs to the balcony, studs on the walls for sheetrock and framed walls on the balcony. At that time, wiring was also done for the lights and outlets. On Jan. 2, new front doors were installed.

Construction for the project kicked off the next month from Feb. 2-5, as the sheetrock was finished. The fellowship hall’s closet and partitions were torn down. On the eighth, framing was put up for fellowship hall sheetrock and elevator parts were unloaded as work commenced.

As work on the elevator picked up steam on Feb. 8-12, walls in the fellowship hall were sheet rocked and spackled. Some of these walls were sanded and primed as the painting of the church from the fellowship hall to the balcony was mostly completed. At that time, the hallways were painted and the water fountain was removed. On Feb. 11, handrails were installed on one side. The following day, radiators and most lights were installed.

The project neared completion from Feb. 15-19. The elevator installation was nearly complete and flooring had been installed in the fellowship hall, community room and hallway. Electricity was also almost installed.

From Feb. 22-26, the wood floors were stained, polyurethaned and trimmed. Lights and outlets had been finished as well as new painted doors. Installation of the handrails had been completed and electricity had been installed. The rear hallways, downstairs foyer as well as the rear of the auditorium had all been painted.

March 1-5 saw a final touchup for the project, inspections as well as the installation of a phone line.

Additional sub-contractors for the project included MC Electrical Systems and Chanowitz Family Plumbing of the Hamlet of Wallkill as well as FAB Floors Inc. of Walden. Sheetrock was mostly installed by VanDam, however he was assisted by Strawridge Rock & Tape, Inc. of the Hamlet of Wallkill. Elevator inspection was done by Hudson Valley Elevation Consultants, Inc. of Washingtonville.

Several people also helped with painting and spackling rear hallways as well as the community room. This group included Trustee Board Chair Thomas Baker, Kathy Baker, Tom Bohan, Trustee Board Member Norma Marcantonio, Douglas Marcantonio and Lynn Sickinger.

Joy filled the church on Sunday, as members of the congregation learned the details of the renovation project. VanDam and Zwart were recognized for their hard work that made the project a reality.

O’Dowd is happy that the project went smoothly and believes that the church will continue to reap its rewards.

“A whole lot of things that are part of the life of our church,” he said, “have been made more aesthetically pleasing and also a whole lot more functionally suitable.”