There is a new Catholic church building up the street from us. It is a beautiful building and one the congregation should be proud to call thier own.
Everytime I pass by I am in awe of it's size considering the population of this town is no more than 30,000. But, even more than its' size, I am impressed by the amount of fill dirt that was required to build it. You see, it is built on a lot that at most is barely above street level and from there slopes to what appears to be at least 10 feet below street level. A quick glance at the site on Google Earth confirmed this estimate of the grade change and also shows that the site has an area of over 8 acres. It looks like about half of the 8 acres has been leveled and is in some stage of development.
Today I pulled into the parking lot, got out of my Guzzler Deluxe, and walked around a bit. I was able to confirm the stuff that was hauled in to level the place is not your average everyday dirt. Nosireebob. The stuff that was used is a super duper high quality mixture of dirt and gravel that has been compacted to the Nth degree and is probably able to support the Freedom Towers should the owners of ground zero decide to relocate that project. I'm telling you that not only is the building a work of art, this is also the most beautiful landfill I have ever seen! Its' sheer size and quality leaves me breathless.
Being completely right brained, I just had to pull out my calculator. I am unable to resist the urge to know just how much dirt there is, and how many truckloads were required to move it from where it was to where it is.
DISCLAIMER: I am not and never have been a surveyor. These numbers are for the private enjoyment of any potential reader that has not yet gotten bored and left the building.
My calculator shows that 32,859.25 yards of fill were required to level this site. To place this amount of material would require 1643 loads using a 20 yard bottom dump trailer. Don't think of the average dump truck when you try to imagine the amount of dirt we're talking about here - these trailers are commonly 34 feet long without counting the tractor that pulls them.
And just think - a parking lot will occupy most of it.
Hey!
ReplyDeleteYep. The Church, as even as lapsed ones call it, never does small or cheap. Someone ran demographic trends for the next 20 years at least. That church was built with the next 100 years in mind too probably. The 8 acres are for the school that will eventually go in.
The school site had not occured to me. Of course you're right about that. I was thinking some developer needed a tax writeoff, donated a piece of dirt that could not be used without a lot of expense to the church and then spent the tax savings on a Cuban cigar. Your senario makes more sense.
ReplyDeleteForrest, nova's scenario makes sense, but so does yours. The church I attend was built on donated land, and about half the land that was donated has never been used for anything because it's basically a quagmire and would need a lot of prep before anything could be built. 50 years later, something is being built -- subsidized senior housing. The church is leasing the land to a nonprofit housing agency for basically nothing.
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