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Developers put nature first in new neighborhood

North of Springfield, Canopy aims to become fully green-certified

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A years-in-the-making vision is culminating in the development of potentially the first green-certified neighborhood in the Springfield area.

Developers JJ Hetherington and Clint Harlan said the development is designed to integrate residences and nature while making the least impact possible on the land.

“We just had a vision, years ago, of finding a piece of property that we could develop in a way that wouldn’t destroy the land – that would restore it first,” Hetherington said. “Then build a community in that land for people to enjoy it, to play in it, to live in it.”

The result is Canopy – a low-impact neighborhood just to the north of Springfield along the Dry Sac River corridor, off of Grant Avenue. Where most subdivisions focus on construction, Canopy emphasizes preservation, with 60% of green space remaining at the 44-acre site and green-certification of the entire neighborhood anticipated.

“Instead of looking at it from how many dollars can we squeeze out of how many acres,” Harlan said, “we looked at it first and foremost from what can we save, what can we preserve, what can we build with and around, in order to leave 200-year-old trees in place.”

Ginnett Sturdefant of Sturdy Real Estate worked with Harlan and Hetherington to find the plot of land that fit their development vision. With the Dry Sac River flowing through, connections to walking trails and nearby parks, the land was the best fit. The developers declined to disclose the land acquisition price and the development cost.

In addition to the low-impact land design, the homes will be built to green-certifiable standards.

Hetherington said the development plan was pulled together using green building standards primarily from the National Association of Home Builders and the International Code Council. The green certification also will come from the two organizations. Certification for a new single-family residence is $200 per home paid by the developer.

NAHB’s National Green Building Standard offers four levels of certification based on lot design and development, resource efficiency, water efficiency, energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and building operation and maintenance.

A development of this type is new for Hetherington and Harlan. Hetherington is the owner of Hetherington Design and Consulting, and Harlan owns Elite Outdoor Innovations.

Canopy’s first phase of homes is available now – a pocket neighborhood of 10 homes on 2.5 acres, with a remaining 5.5 acres of undeveloped green space.

With a few sample home designs to start with, real estate agent Sturdefant said buyers can customize their homes at the level they choose – changing the floor plan, adding or removing bedrooms and placing emphasis on the areas they prioritize – or keep what the developers have created. Homes in Phase I will range in price from $270,000 to $380,000, Sturdefant said.

Phase II is much larger, with space for an estimated 60 lots. Using a conventional development style, Hetherington said the space could fit 250 homes.

The developers plan to start building homes in the spring and start the second phase by next winter.

Sturdefant said the green-certified ratings should lower homeowners’ utility bills and insurance costs, and provide stronger severe storm ratings.

Building a green neighborhood, however, has financial pros and cons for the developers, Hetherington said.

“Developing under these green standards is a give and take,” he said. “Certain aspects of it cost exceptionally more because you’re trying to preserve the land and the trees. You’re working around nature. Other aspects of it compensate you back for that.”

While they may have had to pay more to ensure sewer installation didn’t require removing half of the trees on the property, Harlan said, they are able to spend less on installing pathways by avoiding concrete sidewalks and instead building more natural walking paths that conform to the landscape.

Around the homes, development of the remaining green space also will be kept to a minimum, with native plants and natural landscaping preferred over manicured lawns. Grant Williams, owner of Vox Landscape Design LLC, joined the project to create a landscaping and planting plan to highlight the land’s natural state.

“This is a really special project, because with every project I do I’m trying to identify the inherent preexisting value of that land and space and imagine what it used to be like before we dug holes and built houses on it,” Williams said.

The neighborhood will include spaces for residents to plant their own gardens and the landscaping will focus on natives and developing a symbiotic system of plants.

“A lot of my clients are scared initially of natives. They have a vision of a messy plot of land that looks unkempt and weedy,” Williams said. “This is going to be an awesome example of everything we’ve learned in the last few years of how to do that in a much better way.”

Setting an example for future green developments is a shared goal among the Canopy team, Harlan said.

“We obviously want to make money, but that wasn’t our driving goal behind creating a subdivision like this,” Harlan said. “It was trying to get the momentum moving forward so other people can see it is possible.”

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