Pocket neighborhoods offer a unique alternative to the traditional subdivision, typically these small micro-neighborhoods are built on a large infill lot or a lot that has a structure that is beyond its useful life and needs to be torn down.
Martha Rose, president of Martha Rose Construction, has completed two micro-neighborhoods over the last several years just north of the Seattle city limits in the City of Shoreline. Rose purchased two parcels of land approximately ¾ acres each, both of the parcels had old farmhouse on them that were originally built in the early 1900s.
The micro-neighborhoods, Queen City Eco-Village and Fish Singer Place, were both build as low-impact developments. Special attention was given to help control stormwater runoff. Installing pervious pavement, rain catchments systems and green roofs at Fish Singer Place were used to help control the stormwater and keep it on site.
All the homes were built and designed using Rose’s signature whole house as a system approach. Both of the micro-neighborhoods featured high-performance homes built beyond today’s building codes, built to be extremely energy-efficiencies, durable and healthy.
The 8 homes at Queen City Eco-Village and Fish Singer Place all received certifications from Energy Star, Building America, and the highest certification level from the Built Green program of King and Snohomish County. Both projects were awarded Built Green’s Small Community of the Year awards.
The success of these micro-neighborhoods has sparked a new wave of home builders in the Seattle market place that are looking for a way to differentiate their product mix by building high-performance homes. These homes are built beyond code and will be certificated and verified by an independent third party, tested and document that the home’s performance meets or exceeds the program’s certification requirements in energy & water efficiency, material use, indoor air quality, and recycling & waste.
Rose will be starting 4 new homes in late June for an early 2013 release, follow the link to view other high-performance homes that are currently for sale in the Greater Seattle area.
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