Development Plans to be 'Green Acres'

The Grand Rapids Press

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

By Juanita Westaby

 

GRAND RAPIDS TOWNSHIP -- It's easy to fall in love with a housing development that features a short walk to a coffee shop or a drycleaner when you live in the weather-friendly Carolinas or Florida.

But when architect Terry Sanford saw the concept working in St. Charles, Mo., with its temperamental Midwest weather, he knew it could take off in Grand Rapids.

The Celadon New Town, a project known as Garden Park when it was under the scrutiny of Grand Rapids Township officials the past two years. Mosaic Properties President Brad Rottschafer said that was "just a general term" used while he sorted through hundreds of names.

Work began this week on the project, which is expected to take four years to complete. They plan to begin selling units this summer.

Celadon, which is a hue of green, aimed at describing the project: The 22-acre, 122-unit development will be built to Green Built Michigan standards. That association' s founder, Mike Holcomb, said everything from how much water toilets use to ensuring that all products used in building are manufactured and shipped within 500 miles will be monitored by Green Built.

No golden shovel was used in the groundbreaking.

Instead, a mature pine tree was transplanted. No tree on the old farmstead at the corner of Knapp Street NE and Leffingwell Avenue will be wasted, Rottschafer said.

The trees will either stay put, be relocated on the property, used in local farm operations or used as energy. One stand of ash trees will be the flooring of a centerpiece loft building.

Affordable Housing

The development will include row houses, cottages, "live-work" units as well as single-family homes. Rottschafer wants a mix of ages and incomes, so some of the properties cost as little as $135,000, to be affordable for the Kent County family that earns the median $47,300 income. Some homes will go for as much as $400,000. Live-work units are for those who want to run their careers from home.

Garages will be rear-loading and out of sight. Homes will circle parks, sit next to wetlands, or a community garden plot. A community center and pool are planned.

"You have to give people reasons to get out" and walk around, Rottschafer said.

A total of 60,000-square feet will be dedicated to local retailers and businesses, even though the development is within walking distance of Celebration Cinema and Meijer's Knapp's Corner. Restaurants, floral shops, drycleaners, and hair salons are among permitted uses.

Celadon's "new urban" community is not an entirely new concept, said Grand Valley Metro Council Planning Director Andy Bowman.

"Intentional communities" arrived about 10 years ago, he said. After a slow start, they are catching on, both in new development and in existing urban areas such as Belknap's Newberry Place, a cohousing community that just won GVMC's Blueprint Award.

"It's not just a matter of efficiency," he said. "There's a lot of community value to something like this. There are better associations, a more integrated way of living, to be near the things you need.

"All of our future growth (locally) for the next 20 to 30 years could be handled by this time of development, " Bowman said.