LAKELAND — The proposed Florida Conference Heritage Center will be built at the Life Enrichment Center in Leesburg instead of the Florida Conference Center here if delegates to the 2003 Florida Annual Conference Event approve a resolution that is a “major departure” from the original plans, according to the Rev. Ivan Corbin.

Corbin is chairman of the Florida Conference’s Commission on Archives and History and pastor at Community United Methodist Church in Fruitland Park.

Corbin said the commission is working with the conference Commission on Finance and Administration (CF&A) and trustees to ensure the Heritage Center is built without adding financial burden to the conference.

The resolution, which must be endorsed by the Commission on Archives and History, CF&A and the trustees, lays out an anticipated budget of $890,000 to build and furnish the center and provide for five years of operating costs and two years of part-time staff. The money is to come from Heritage Center fund-raising efforts. It also sets a deadline of Dec. 31, 2004 for funding to be completed, or the annual conference will have to re-examine and reauthorize the project.

“We want to make sure this [Heritage Center] happens and…see it operate on its own without adding to the connectional giving askings,” Corbin said. “We also want to do this without requesting a loan of any kind.”

The move to build the center in Leesburg is motivated by finances and accessibility, according to Corbin. The cost of integrating the new building into the existing United Methodist Building and Episcopal office in Lakeland would have cost approximately $1.4 million. Building it in Leesburg next to the Life Enrichment Center’s chapel and across from the Cokesbury store will cost less than $800,000. Bids for the building were collected earlier this month.

John Cannon, a Florida Conference trustee and chairman of the trustees’ Heritage Building subcommittee, said a number of factors added to the increased cost in Lakeland. The center would have to be built using the same bricks as on the existing buildings, which are more expensive than other building materials. The buildings’ copper trim, the shared entrance, increased parking and other site work also would increase costs of building in Lakeland.

Cannon said placing the Heritage Center, which will include an archives repository, museum and research facilities, in Leesburg will make it more accessible because “there is so much more traffic in Leesburg.”

Fund-raising efforts have collected enough to build the center, but there is no money yet for furnishings or ongoing operations and building maintenance, according to Corbin.

Cannon said some of the staffing costs are a new concern. Original plans included a shared entrance between the Heritage Center and the United Methodist Building, which would have allowed the facilities to share reception and custodial staff. “We won’t be able to share staff in Leesburg,” he said.

A request to add staff and operations costs to the conference budget was denied by CF&A, according to Corbin. “It doesn’t make sense to add that to the budget when a lot of other areas are being cut,” he said.

Corbin also said more support from local churches would enable the commission to build and equip the center and create an endowment for future capital expenses. “We still would not have enough to cover regular staffing and operations.”