Date and Time: July 23, 2011 at 10:00am
Presenter: Diane Cheatham
Urban Reserve
This is a development of single family homes designed by recognized architects. The development plan uses a concept of ‘ribbons of landscape’ as a unifying force. There are areas set aside as green areas. Lot square footage range from 5,000 to 14,000 square feet. The least expensive lot is $125,000. The minimum square footage of a home is 1,200 square feet with a maximum being 8,000 square feet.
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| view showing one of the water retention ponds |
The development includes front yard setbacks of only 10 feet and streets use rollover curbs. There are two retention ponds in the development to catch runoff. Rain gardens are also used to filter out heavy metals from rainwater. Their homeowner’s association guidelines, which can be found online, include a list of plants that are drought tolerant and native to the area. LEED certification is a requirement for any home constructed in this development. There have been 16 homes built so far.
Diane is a proponent of using a geothermal system as being the most cost effective for heating and air conditioning with a relatively short payback. Water conserving fixtures is also one of her recommendations as is composting to minimize trash going to the landfill. The question of having a ‘community garden’ came up, but this would require re-zoning one of the lots for commercial use which is presently not an option.
Following is a link to the web page:
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