HART’S MILL ECOVILLAGE PROGRAM SUMMARY · INTRODUCTION Project Overview Hart’s Mill Ecovillage...
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Transcript of HART’S MILL ECOVILLAGE PROGRAM SUMMARY · INTRODUCTION Project Overview Hart’s Mill Ecovillage...
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HART’S MILL ECOVILLAGE PROGRAM SUMMARY
May 2014
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PROGRAM OUTLINE
Introduction Project Overview
Project Background
Hart's Mill Ecovillage Vision Goals
o General
o Workplaces
o Transportation
o Housing
o Farm and Gardens
Site Plan Scope
Land Use Areas
Site Plan Areas
o Arrival and parking areas
o Community education area
o Community workspaces
o Ecovillage neighborhood
o Ecological infrastructure
o Farmstead and farm
o Natural Habitats
Appendix
Hart’s Mill Ecovillage Program and concept plans are designed for conceptual purposes only.
Buildings and landscape areas are subject to code and ordinance assessment and future design development phases.
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INTRODUCTION
Project Overview
Hart’s Mill Ecovillage is located in Orange County, North Carolina about 20 miles west of Durham
on a 110.5-acre site. The ecovillage will consist of a pedestrian layout (all cars clustered at the
edge of the village) of 24 - 30 single family homes, a group home, a community education and
recreation pavilion, a common house, workshops/studios/offices/cottage industries and other
resident work spaces, a farm and farmstead and nature preserve. As an ecovillage on a rural site
Hart’s Mill has the goal of preserving up to 90 percent of the site as farmland, woodlands,
meadows and riparian areas with a conservation easement.
Project Background
Hart’s Mill Ecovillage is an agrarian intentional community taking shape on 110 acres of land
just west of Chapel Hill and Durham, NC. The seed for Hart’s Mill was planted more than 5
years ago, and progress has accelerated over the past two years since identifying the land.
Our broad intention is to create a community which embodies and models ways of life that
are not only sustainable, but are also regenerative, in personal, social, environmental and
economic dimensions. We are planning for about two dozen households in a compact
village, while maintaining the remainder of land in conservation and permaculture-based
productivity. We intend to produce a significant portion of our food onsite, as well as to
provide opportunities for small growers and other land-based entrepreneurs.
Vision We envision a world in which people live in justice and harmony with each other and the land. Mission To actualize Hart’s Mill Ecovillage as an agrarian intentional community: restorative in its agriculture, sustainable in its designs and practices, collaborative in its social and work life, and celebratory and creative in all that we do.
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VEHICULAR AND PEDESTRIAN ZONES
SITE
PLAN
TRANSPORATION DIAGRAM
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SITE AREAS A – C: Arrival/Parking Areas
D: Community Arrival/Education Area
E: Community Workshop/Studio Areas
F-H: Residential Neighborhood
J: Farmstead/Farm
K: Woodland Preserve
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Workshop Summary Goals These goals are a summary of the comments from the workshop participants with additional inputs from the consultants and do not represent a
final consensus agreement.
Hart’s Mill Ecovillage will serve as an educational model for sustainable community development and a particular lifestyle: fostering intergenerational
community relationships with a balance of privacy and community; promoting ecological village development with green businesses/work places;
restoring natural habitats; increasing soil fertility; converting monoculture forests to mixed forests; and preserving up to 90% of the land in perpetuity
for farm land and gardens (including farm buildings), woodlands, meadows and riparian corridors.
ECOVILLAGE GOALS
Preservation
o Land: Preserve up to 90% of site as farm and natural habitats with a
conservation easement, be low impact on land and partner with land
trust to expand land preservation to surrounding parcels
Community Interaction
o Promote interaction/feeling of community, foster closer relationships,
balance privacy and community, increase interface with outside
community and promote pedestrian interaction by parking cars at the
site periphery
Education
o Education: Serve as a model and affiliate to schools and other
ecovillages
Resource Efficiency
o Reduce personal footprint by encouraging use of communal spaces,
conservation of resources and a reduction of “stuff.”
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Nevada City Cohousing Central Solar Array
Waste
o Reduce waste, re-use, recycle and compost.
Water
o Rainwater: Collect rainwater high on land and gravity feed to outlets (always available without effort). Develop a
system of water infiltration with keylines, swales, berms and mulching.
o Waste water: Use a series of small-scale, gravity flow conventional septic fields placed high on the land to filter
the water and allow for phasing of individual homes and buildings as the community grows. In a later phase, the
option will remain to develop a constructed wetland or other waste water system with grants as an educational
model.
Energy
o Electrical energy: Target of net zero
electrical energy – produce more
alternative energy on site than is
consumed. Sell surplus energy back to
grid; use more direct mechanical
systems to reduce electricity
demands.
o Thermal energy: Meet thermal
requirements of the community
through passive and active solar
energy—cooling and heating design
systems.
o Human energy: Design village and
farm layouts with regard to human
pedestrian, hand/bicycle cart and
bicycle proximities (including
appropriate slope considerations).
o Transportation Energy: Reduce the use of fossil fuels for motorized vehicles by supplementing with photovoltaic-
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based charging stations and/or bio-fuels.
Workplaces/Local Economy
o Develop a variety of workplaces integrated into the ecovillage and the farm for the village residents.
o Provide support services for site-based resident workplaces: office space, teaching center/hospitality, studios and
workshops, healing/wellness spaces, certified kitchen/cottage industries, appropriate technologies, etc.
Transportation
o Pedestrian connections: Plan to create easy, walkable access to amenities.
o Optimize alternative modes of transportation on site: pedestrian, bicycle,
tricycle, electric carts, tractor wagon/hay ride, cart taxi, lease on demand
vehicles, van shuttles and transit connections.
o Create a convenient transition from car to other transportation modalities
(intermodal center).
o Reinforce emerging, appropriate human-powered transportation
technologies such as tricycles and pedal carts.
o Develop a transportation communication plan that could include the
establishment of a transportation board.
o Optimize off site modes of transportation: shuttle, lease on demand
vehicles, carpooling and county bus service.
Housing
o Build sustainable, compact and efficient homes from locally sourced
materials.
o Shared housing: Create options for multiple suite homes with shared
common area.
o Minimize redundant housing space by optimizing the common spaces.
o Plan for maximally flexible use of all structures (esp. the commons).
o Incorporate live/work housing units.
o Provide assisted living (ex. PACE: Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly).
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Farm and Gardens
o Grow fresh food year round in the community.
o Be a demonstration laboratory for restoring land and sustainable agriculture
best practices.
o Adapt to climate change and species changes.
o Develop drought-resistant cultivation techniques.
o Meet 50% or more of community’s food needs and export food to larger
region.
o Increase soil fertility.
o “Full use” cycle to include the production of wool, honey, milk, cheese, eggs,
etc.
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LAND USE AREAS
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COMMUNITY GRADIENT
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ECOVILLAGE NEIGHBORHOOD
Residential Clusters and Common House
Neighborhood Scope
Community Areas Scope
o Common house
o Accessory
buildings/storage
o Playgrounds
o Green
o Gardens
Housing Scope
24-30 units: owner occupied
(for approximately 70-80 persons)
Representative mix of house types:
o 20 Single family detached (800 – 1600 sf)
o 4 tiny homes
o 2 Duplexes
o Group home: 5 suites - 10 persons
o Temp farm workers/interns - 6-10 persons
Parking scope
Total parking for residents: 55 spaces
o 30 (single/family)- 1.5 per unit
o 4 (tiny homes)- 1 per unit
o 5 (Group home)- 1 per suite
o 6 (duplex)- 3 per duplex
o 2 (farm workers)- shuttle in
o 8 guest spaces
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FARMSTEAD AND FARM
Farm Areas o Farm and permaculture gardens
o Farm dwelling
o Dormitory/bunkhouse for 6-10 interns
o Event barn, post harvest center and accessory farm
structures
o Repair shop
o Greenhouse and hoop houses
o Nursery
o Animals
o Campsite
Eco-Farm
o Experimentation, demonstration, diverse
production
o Farm as ecosystem
o Build soil
o Manage water resources
o Annual Vegetable crops
o Orchards and vineyards high in landscape
o Berries
o Nut trees
o Humane and integrated animal production
systems.
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NATURAL HABITATS
Woodlands, Meadows and Riparian Corridors
Forests o Restore forests to health, diversity, and
abundance
o Control invasive plant species
o Create woodland trail systems
o Produce non-timber forest crops including
mushrooms, medicinals, nuts, fiber, etc.
o Grow wood for fuel, lumber
o Install demonstration forest garden
o Wildlife habitat: use animals to manage the
system
Riparian Zones o Manage water systems and riparian zones for
water quality and aquatic ecosystem
o Promote health and diversity
o Utilize natural wetlands as biofilters
