The Grow Community is built on the Ten Principles of One Planet Living. This section is dedicated to our pursuit of the One Planet ideal and how we’re making that happen at the Grow Community site on Bainbridge Island, Washington.
Contractors in the Grow Community PHC Construction team were treated to a locally grown luncheon on the job site last week. All food for the noontime repast was grown on Bainbridge and North Kitsap farms. Local agriculture, sustainability and health are always on the menu at Grow!
Very nicely, thanks! And it’s only going to get better. The shared gardens at Grow Community promise a bounty for the table and a close-knit neighborhood to share its goodness.
Community gardens and “edible landscaping” — everything from blueberries to tree fruits, with tasty vegetables on the vine — are a key feature at Grow, and a big part of our “One Planet Living” ethos. We want to honor the land by fostering and enjoying its wholesome yield.
Now as we approach the first harvest season of our completed Village neighborhood, our gardens are really coming into their own. Residents in our new homeowners association (whose ranks include a few master gardeners, wouldn’t you know) have the happy task of divvying up the delicious fare. You gotta love it when a new sign goes up in your neighborhood, and it says, “Pick Me.”
We’re also talking to Friends of the Farms, the local non-profit that manages and promotes Bainbridge Island’s public agricultural land. We’re discussing how that group may be able to manage our orchards and gardens for an even greater yield, creating an urban farm that produces sustainable, locally grown food in volume and forges stronger community connections.
And this is just in the Village in Phase 1. With Grow Community’s next neighborhood, the Grove, which has just broken ground, and the Park neighborhood to follow, our green development will get even greener (if that’s possible). Sixty percent of the new neighborhoods will be devoted to open space including more bountiful trees and gardens.
We call our community “Grow” for a reason.
Here’s a bird’s-eye view of Grow Community phase 1, the Village, and its remarkable concentration of energy-producing rooftops.
Grow Community homes are now producing 85-105 percent of their energy needs, eliminating residents’ power bills and earning financial credits through Washington’s strong solar incentives.
Grow Community’s solar program got the star treatment on KIRO-FM’s “Real Estate Today” over the weekend.
Grow project manager Greg Lotakis was among the panelists for “Simple Solar,” an hourlong discussion of Washington’s dramatic solar incentives and the ease of financing new solar systems for homeowners — and the tremendous benefits for solar adapters like Grow Community residents.
Real Estate Today’s popular host Tom Kelly interviewed Greg along with Tim Bailey, Blue Frog Solar founder and principal; Shannon Ellis-Brock, COO of Puget Sound Cooperative Credit Union; Reeves Clippard, founder and CEO of A&R Solar of Seattle. On-air callers had great questions for the in-studio team, our partners in the Grow solar program.
Almost 100% of homes in Grow phase 1, the Village, now have an operational solar system or are queued up to get one installed, giving Grow distinction as the largest planned solar community in Washington state. Solar will be a key feature of our next two phases, the Grove and the Park.
Homes in the Village are producing between 85 and 105 percent of their energy needs through their rooftop installations.
“Until you can see and feel and understand that it works, it feels like it’s a myth,” Greg told Real Estate Today listeners.
“It’s been pretty remarkable.”
Listen to a podcast of the program on the Real Estate Today website.
Big thanks to Tom Kelly for his interest in Grow Community and the Simple Solar program!
Pauline, the Director of Trees for Global Benefits was visiting at Grow this last week. This program sells carbon offsets to provide funds supports farmers in Uganda, providing funds to help them plant trees and manage their land. Carbon offsets are sold to help fund the program which creates sustainable livelihoods for families in Uganda. The revenue from the carbon offsets and from well-managed agricultural land helps them to get loans, to pay for school fees, to buy food for their children. Grow supports Trees for Global Benefits on an ongoing basis.
For more information about Trees for Global Benefits see this video
Or go to their website: http://www.planvivo.org/projects/registeredprojects/trees-for-global-benefits-uganda/
DOES WELLNESS MAKE BUSINESS SENSE AS A DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVE?
How have developers pursued this objective? What has the market response been? And how have developers measured their success?
Grow Community is featured in this publication by Urban Land Institute as a case study on building for wellness.
Building for Wellness provides answers directly from developers who have completed projects with wellness intentions. In 13 sets of interviews, developers explain their motivation, their intended wellness and health outcomes, the development process and operations as related to their health intentions, and the key issue in this publication—the metrics of market performance.
Click here to read the publication.
March 11, 2014: By Andrew Merecicky
Residents of Bainbridge Island, Wash., led by Asani Development Initiatives, are re-imagining what a residential community could be. Even more impressive than its community gardens and car share program, the Grow Community is on track to be the largest planned solar-ready neighborhood in Washington State.
The housing development is designed to be a net-zero energy community, and is one of seven such endorsed projects by the One Planet Living program. Asani has also partnered with two Washington-based companies, BlueFrog Solar and A&R Solar, to develop an installation-ready solar package around which each home in the Grow Community is specifically designed.
The solar systems are intended to provide 100% of the energy demand of each house. The roofs of each structure were carefully designed to support the required number of solar panels. The installation package available to homebuyers features the Washington-based itek Energy‘s PV panels and APS America‘s microinverters.
Model homes on Grow Avenue NW. September 26, 2012. Credit: Anthony Rich
“The variety of rooflines that make a project like Grow so visually interesting can be a challenge for solar systems, which rely on PV arrays being optimally oriented toward the sun,” says Kelly Samson CEO of APS America. “Unlike regular ‘string’ inverters, APS microinverters maximize output and allow monitoring of individual panels, optimizing the productivity of the whole array at all points in the sun’s daily arc across the sky.”
The project will be completed in three phases. The first phase, which is presently nearing completion, will contain 18 single-family homes, six town houses and 20 multi-family rental units. Two more neighborhoods, referred to as “neighborhood 2.0″ and “3.0″ respectively, are still in the design stages. Homeowners have the standing option to install a solar system or not, providing customers with flexibile options regarding installation timing and financing.
“The project is being constructed in three phases to reduce risk and to allow the development team to apply lessons learned in each phase to the subsequent phase,” says Marja Preston, president of Asani Development. “We were confident that the solar community would work as we had a long interest list prior to placing the homes on the market. All of the homes were presold before construction began, an indication that there is strong interest, not only in solar homes, but in solar homes in a connected, walkable community.”
The first solar modules installed on Grow model homes. July 13, 2012.
Credit: Jonathan Davis
Phase II, containing neighborhood 2.0 and 3.0, will involve building 88 more homes. Housing options will consist of a mix of two-story town houses, single-level houses and apartments in three-story buildings. Additionally, residential parking will be underground to maximize the community’s green space. The second phase is also going to include the community center building and a childcare facility in its construction. Every structure in the community is built solar-ready.
The ultimate goal of the project was to design a repeatable model for a net-zero energy housing development, a task which, Preston says, was accomplished.
“The biggest challenge for our team was to design a net-zero energy single-family home that could be built and sold for a reasonable price. The goal for the project was to demonstrate a profitable and therefore replicable net-zero energy residential real estate development. We absolutely met that challenge,” Preston says .
Bainbridge is an ideal location for such an innovative project, because tax rebates in Washington make possible an affordably-priced solar option. This is one of the reasons Preston sees a promising future for Grow and similar green community development in Washington.
“The fact that almost all the homebuyers have chosen the solar option is an indication that the strategy for adding solar that we created with BlueFrog and A&R has been successful and is entirely replicable in other housing developments in the state.”
Installation Notes:
Panel type: 240 and 270W itek Energy
Microinverters: YC200, YC500 APS America
Racking and Mounting: SunModo Racking Systems
Monitoring: APS Energy Communication Unit/Energy Monitoring and Analysis
Output: 2.9 kW to 8.9 kW per housing unit.
Installation Crew: A&R Solar
Installation Dates: June 2012 – ongoing project
Read article here: http://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2014/03/installation-notes-welcome-net-zero-neighborhood/
On Thursday (March 20th) at 12.30pm a local Bainbridge community group will be joining the Grow team to honor those that lived or grew up along Government Way (John Adams) on what is now the Grow Community property. The ceremony will be held on the current basketball court (behind house 370) on John Adams and then move to the American Legion Hall.
The ceremony will last 30 to 45 minutes and include short stories from each of the following:
Grow Family – Jon Quitsland
Japanese Community – Kay Nakao
Military Community – TBD
Grow Community’s Future – Greg Lotakis
The ceremony was initiated between the Grow Team and a Bainbridge community group lead by Karen Vargas, out of a desire to honor the early Japanese Community in this area of the island as well as those families and Military Veterans that made the Government Way housing their home, and to capture the stories of those that spent time in this place.
An early historical record/study was commissioned (Quitsland report) during the planning process for the Grow project to inform us about the history of the area. While the report touches only the tip of the iceberg, much of the history is rich with food production and community – two of the major themes for our new development. The Grow Family homesteaded in the area and on the property we are developing. What was once a strawberry field will again be home to fruit trees and garden beds. The next 5 acre phase of the project alone will have 3 acres of open space that will be mixed with fields, orchards, and light forest groves.
The history of this site teaches us that the area was rich with community connection. The beauty in our recent work with Karen and others is the richness of the place in community and the stories we plan to tell andpreserve. The military families and the Japanese community who touched this land each provide a glimpse into the past. Our intent is that the Grow neighborhood will honor the past by creating a renewed connection to community through the land. In our opinion, too often new development disregards these connections to each other, therebylimiting opportunities to create a sense of place.
We are working toward a way to share the stories once the Grow neighborhood is complete. We are currently considering telling the story in a variety of formats within our new community center and through interpretive signage throughout the property.
Some other worthy notes include:
1/ All play equipment will be collected by BI Parks Department for future reuse
2/ Small items from the homes/site will be saved by the community group focused on historical honoring
3/ Reusable items in the homes will be salvaged and repurposed
4/ Remaining structures will be used for training by Fire & Police
5/ All demolition debris will be recycled where applicable
6/ House numbers will go with those that grew up in the homes
7/ Stories will be collected and kept with appropriate entity (City or Museum)
Location:
The first neighborhood at Grow Community will come together this summer when the rental homes are finished. In order to keep moving toward completion of the entire community, we have been working hard to come up with a design that meets all of our criteria and that builds on everything we’ve learned over the past several years.The next two neighborhoods at Grow will continue to meet our One Planet goals, with a focus on truly intergenerational living. Sixty percent of the homes will be accessible, with aging in community as a design priority. In addition, a number of the homes are being designed and priced for young families, creating that mix of vibrant and lively interaction that makes Grow such a great place to live.
Community Green Spaces PUBLIC OPEN HOUSEWed. March 5: 6.30-8.30pmThree out of the five acres in the next neighborhood will be community green space. These spaces will include gardens, native forest, and play areas for young and old alike. We would like to share with you the preliminary designs and hear your thoughts. Please join us at a March 5th evening Open House at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, to share in the conversation about how we can create the green spaces in a manner that enhances community.All are invited.
Location: Bainbridge Island Museum of Art – 550 Winslow Way East
Click here to download the event flier
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Status on the Construction Site
Construction on the Cooper Apartments is well underway. As the single-family homes are completed the attention will be turned to the apartments through mid summer to get them finished up. The landscaping, pathways and community bulletin boards are all getting finished up in time for spring, and residents are enthusiastically planning the community garden spaces in their pocket neighborhoods. Solar installations have continued on homes over the last several months and several more are expected in March/April. We have enjoyed seeing our solar garden grow! |
Grow Community is an urban Net Zero neighborhood on Bainbridge Island, just a 35-minute ferry ride from downtown Seattle. With beautifully designed solar-powered homes, shared community gardens and clean transportation options, Grow allows all generations to enjoy a high-quality and healthy lifestyle.
After mid-March only one home remains to be built in the first neighborhood.