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| Old Woods Farm Featured In March Blog |
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COMMUNITIES
Coastal development add a twist of "green"
by STEVE CARTWRIGHTJuly 2006
Picture a summer cottage on a Muscongus Bay island with traditional shingled walls and six-over-six windows. Or picture a woodsy, compact and energy-efficient home near other houses, within walking distance of Tenants Harbor village, where there is post office, store, restaurant, plus a town pier and float for boat access to Penobscot Bay.
Nostalgia for the old Maine? No, these images are the visions of two different developers who believe you can respect local tradition and preserve natural habitat, even if that means scaling back profits. You might call it the greening of development.
Two planned Midcoast subdivisions appear to be taking a fresh approach to development. The 10-lot Old Woods Farm project in Tenants Harbor would set aside 84 acres as conservation land, while the 45-acre Flying Passage subdivision on Bremen Long Island would protect another 140-plus acres on the island from development, with public access permitted.
Developers want to make money, so is this a sincere commitment to be environmentally responsible or ploy to placate irate townspeople?
Many longer-term coastal residents are alarmed and angry at the rapid rise in land prices, loss of waterfront access and mega-homes built alongshore. Peninsular hamlets such as Tenants Harbor in St George feature roads that are fast becoming ribbons of commercial sprawl, interspersed with suburban houses that don’t belong to a particular village. The result is alienating and erodes the sense of community. The small town of Bremen doesn’t want to follow suit.
Jan Wirth has done a lot of research on what makes for “green” development. She has restored old houses and sailed the Maine coast in a classic family-owned yawl. She spent 30 years in Aspen, Colorado, before moving to Maine in 2001, and one year ago she and her sister, Jill Buschmann, bought an old house and 100 acres at the head of Tenants Harbor.
Their plan is to protect the bulk of their property from development through the Georges River Land Trust, and to allow 10 homes on the remaining land with requirements for size, native landscaping, energy efficiency, sustainable building materials and the number of outbuildings. Prices on lots are not yet available, but Wirth has already had inquiries. The sisters will restore the old house beside the main road for themselves.
Wirth, who has joined the town Comprehensive Plan Committee, acknowledged she wants to make money with her development. But protecting wildlife habitat and the local community are also important to her. “I’m most interested in the preservation of the community,” she said.
She hopes to develop other properties in the future, to help provide affordable housing to St.George and to help protect the town’s working waterfront.
Camden-based Friends of Midcoast Maine, a group promoting “sensible growth,” gave Old Woods Farm its “smart growth” endorsement. The St. George planning board approved the Old Woods Farm subdivision on May 9. But that same day, developer Dan Goldenson of Bremen and Cambridge, Massachusetts, was encountering rough seas. The Bremen Planning Board has been reviewing his 10-lot proposal for Bremen Long Island, and some residents are angry and unhappy about it.
Among the 30 residents at the planning board meeting was Blair Pyne, a local marina owner with a home on Bremen Long Island. “I don’t think Mr. Goldenson has a clue about island living,” he said.
Goldenson and his wife, Suzanne, renovated a waterfront homestead on the mainland once owned by lobster dealer Bernard “Bunny” Zahn, who towed the Maine-built five-masted schooner Cora Cressy to his pound in the 1930s. The vessel has nearly disintegrated. The property isn’t far from the 257 acres Goldenson bought on Bremen Long Island last summer. He now owns about a third of the island.
Pyne said he has lived on the island for 50 years and Goldenson’s planned piers “will basically destroy the only cove without a dock.” He said there is a “perfectly good” dock on the other side of the island, and people who build on the new lots could get there by a path from the existing pier.
A day before the Bremen planning board session, Bremen lobster dealer Melanee Osier Gilbert and home designer Dennis Prior, both from old Bremen families, submitted a petition seeking a six-month moratorium on residential and commercial development on the waterfront. Gilbert said she was most concerned about a marina Goldenson planned on the mainland because “there isn’t room in the harbor.”
Karl Berger, chairman of the town’s board of selectmen, said the town clerk has certified petition signatures but the board had not yet acted on it. Goldenson does not want to get into a community fight and believes a moratorium would hurt many people as well as general property values. Goldenson was caught off guard by the claim that he was not protected under existing ordinances after filing a complete application March 1. He has received approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Goldenson feels he is on the same side as his opponents, since preservation keeps things from changing rapidly. He has an excellent relationship with the fishermen at the adjoining Lobster Coop that once was part of his own property. They now want to help find a resolution for all concerned, and are in a position to do so.
Goldenson envisions modest island cottages on concrete piers rather than full foundations, assuring that they will not turn into year-round homes. With no power or roads in the subdivision, Goldenson feels he is demonstrating his concern for the environment.
A retired medical publisher and a one-time developer of office and research buildings in his former hometown of Princeton, New Jersey, Goldenson said he is now more interested in preservation work and environmentally-conscious development. In 2003, the Goldensons gave 50 acres of mainland property to the nearby Hog Island Audubon camp to expand their environmental education program. The gift was only recently made public.
“We’re as concerned about all of these local issues as the people who have lived here for generations,” he said. “We love it here.”
-- July 2006
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| Jill Buschmann, left Jan Wirth, center, and Ann Archino Howe, project manager, welcomed participants to the planing board hearing on the proposed Old Woods Farm subdivision. photo by Mark Shapiro |
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From The Free Press and Free Press Online: Thursday April 27th, 2006
Old Woods Farm part of a pilot program of U.S. Green Building Council
Tenants Harbor Subdivision Takes Sustainability Seriously — by Georgeanne Davis
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On April 15, more than 30 people gathered in a barn on Route 131 in Tenants Harbor for a public hearing, site walk and presentation on a proposed subdivision that will be a model of sustainability and ecological planning. Developers and sisters Jan Wirth and Jill Buschmann, along with project manager Ann Archino Howe, of Sustainable Design Studio in Portland, presented maps and site plans of the project and led the crowd of interested participants on a walk through the field where homes will be built when final approval is granted by the town’s planning board on May 9. Old Woods Farm is a proposed “conservation neighborhood” that will include 10 energy-efficient homes on 16 acres close to the center of Tenants Harbor, with more than 83 acres of protected wetlands and woodlands to be put under a conservation easement.
Buschmann and Wirth have never undertaken a development before, but both have business backgrounds and are veteran fixer-uppers: they’ve never seen an old house with potential that they didn’t itch to get their hands on and restore. They moved to Tenants Harbor from Wells, where, in 2001 they’d bought the last privately owned home at Laudholm Farm, an old farmhouse situated on 4 acres, surrounded by the Wells National Estuarine Research Preserve. The sisters had spent a lot of time in the midcoast area when they sailed their yawl here summers and usually rented a place in Tenants Harbor for a week each summer while they visited friends. It was while they were visiting in July 2004 that they saw the “for sale — 100 acres” sign in front of the old farmhouse and barn, with its meadow stretching away behind it, and decided, “If someone’s going to develop it, it should be us.”
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| Looking back at the farmhouse from the proposed subdivision. photo by Jan Wirth |
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Wirth was “retired” after the sale of the company she and her former husband had founded in Colorado. FireGear, Inc. made protective clothing for firefighting, and Wirth was the company’s president and CEO. Buschmann spent years working in computer technology for such companies as GE and Wang Laboratories before she decided to enter chiropractic school. She’s been a chiropractor for 15 years and commutes to Tenants Harbor on weekends from her practice in Newburyport, Massachusetts. The sisters see the Old Woods Farm development as a natural extension of their years of experience in buying, remodeling and selling houses. Old Woods Farm is exceptional in that from the outset the sisters were interested in making certain that the land would be conserved. They hired Terrence J. DeWan & Associates, a professional landscape architecture and planning firm in Yarmouth noted for its dedication to approaching land use opportunities with creativity and environmental sensitivity, and Archino Howe as civil engineer. The 100-acre parcel of land is narrow at the road, then widens out as it climbs and becomes part of an almost 1,400-acre forest in the center of the St. George peninsula. Behind the front 16 acres and meadow is a wetlands, beyond which is some very desirable second-growth forest area. Wirth says that, over time, someone could easily have planned to phase in 30 or 40 more homes on the land, but she’s more concerned with conserving the intact forested area and hopes that abutters might be interested in starting a dialogue about ways to conserve the other parcels that make up the large natural habitat. Wirth and Buschmann are participating in the state’s WoodsWISE program, which offers incentives to help landowners, with the help of a licensed forester, get started in managing their land according to their objectives. They are also members of the Small Woodlot Owners Association of Maine (SWOAM) and have put their property in the state’s Tree Growth Assessment Plan. Wirth understands that often landowners may need to sell some land to help out with their retirement, but believes many would benefit from information about the alternatives available to at least help lower property taxes.
In March, the Friends of Midcoast Maine gave Old Woods Farm its Smart Growth Endorsement. The Endorsement Committee reviewed the project in light of smart-growth criteria of location, efficiency and design, transportation linkages, environmental impacts, public participation, community involvement, reuse/preservation of existing structures and community asset considerations.
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| Wirth and team do some early site planning work. photo by Mark Shapiro |
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Specifically, the proposed development was found to meet seven major endorsement criteria. It was found to be located adjacent to developed infrastructure including downtown Tenants Harbor’s existing public water, electric services, sidewalk and road networks. It addresses efficiency and design criteria by siting the proposed 10 lots close to the main access road on 16 acres and retaining the remaining 83-plus acres as protected open space. The development also includes underground utilities and locates lots at the front of the property, preserving the back acreage.
One of the most positive features of the proposed development is the low-impact, environmentally conscious design, with smaller homes and protective covenants to insure a low environmental impact. Minimal lot clearing, green building practices, renewable energy sources, minimal lawns and native landscaping, and a community garden and common open space are all part of the Old Woods Farm plan.
Wirth and Buschmann propose to build a prototype energy-efficient home on one of the lots and are working with Powerhouse Enterprises in Lawrence, Massachussets, on the design, which was recently submitted to the Maine State Housing Authority’s Mainstream Green Housing Design contest. They are currently working on restrictive covenants that will ensure that the homes to be built are site-specific and blend in with their surroundings; are somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 square feet in size, with no more that two outbuildings of up to 600 square feet for a studio or garage; are sited for maximum solar gain; and are built using the criteria of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Homes. The development would be part of the LEEDfor Homes pilot project that is promoting the transformation of the mainstream home building industry towards more sustainable practices. In addition to the aforementioned siting within the existing village infrastructure, homes smaller than the national average and site stewardship, LEED for Homes points are accumulated by including such things as all materials produced within 500 miles of the site; a maximum of 2.5 pounds per square foot of construction waste sent to a landfill; energy-efficient windows, insulation, space heating and cooling, water heating and lights; all Energy Star appliances; and renewable electric generation systems.
Wirth, a Maine Master Gardener, took three classes in wetland restoration at the New York Botanical Garden and an advanced Master Gardening class in Ecological Landscaping to familiarize herself with the concepts of use of native plants, rain gardens and natural landscaping. She plans to have each lot within the subdivision cleared minimally, so that each maintains its own character.
Upon final approval by the planning board, the sisters hope to begin work on the Old Woods Farm road on June 26, just 18 months after they first conceived of their dream project.
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| The preliminary master plan for the Old Woods Farm subdivision. |
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March 13th 2006 Proposed Old Woods Farm Subdivision in Tenants Harbor Receives Smart Growth Endorsement from Friends of Midcoast Maine
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(Camden Maine) Friends of Midcoast Maine has given its Smart Growth Endorsement to Jan Wirth and Jill Buschmann for the proposed Old Woods Farm subdivision in Tenants Harbor, a village of St. George, Maine. Old Woods Farm is a proposed 10 lot subdivision that features energy efficient homes and 84 acres of protected open space. The development will be located off of Route 131 in Tenants Harbor.
“We are thrilled to be selected by Friends of Midcoast Maine for a Smart Growth Endorsement”, noted Jan Wirth, co-developer of the project with her sister Jill. “We are working hard to offer smaller, energy efficient homes that insure a low impact on the environment.”
The Endorsement Committee reviewed the project in light of smart growth criteria of location, efficiency and design, transportation linkages, environmental impacts, public participation, community involvement, reuse/preservation of existing structures, and community asset considerations.
“The Old Woods Farm subdivision meets all of our smart growth endorsement criteria,” said Jane Lafleur, Executive Director of Friends of Midcoast Maine. “We are excited to review and approve our first development that features environmentally efficient design and construction. We encourage the developer to continue to meet with neighbors and community members throughout the planning process.”
Specifically, the proposed development was found to meet seven major endorsement criteria. It was found to be located adjacent to developed infrastructure including downtown Tenants Harbor’s existing public water, electric services, sidewalk and road networks. The endorsement committee found the development to address efficiency and design criteria by clustering the proposed ten lots close to the main access road on 16 acres, retaining the remaining 84 acres as protected open space, offering lot sizes that encourage a neighborhood design that enhances the surrounding community and is in keeping with a traditional neighborhood design of the area and proposing underground utilities, shared driveways and a private gravel road. The proposed development is located within 2/10 mile from the village and locates lots at the front of the property, preserving the back acreage.
One of the most positive features of the proposed development is the low impact, environmentally conscious design with smaller homes and protective covenants to insure a low environmental impact. The developer proposes minimal lot clearing, green building practices, renewable energy sources, minimal lawns and native landscaping and a community garden and common open space. Ms Wirth and Ms Buschmann propose to build a Powerhouse Enterprises designed energy efficient home as a prototype on one of the lots. They also plan to dedicate over 83 acres of common open space for use by homeowners and the public and are working with the Georges River Land Trust to do this. In addition, the proposal minimizes the impact on existing wetlands.
The developer has met public participation and community involvement criteria by involving neighbors and community members early on in the planning process and continuing with public participation throughout the design and development process.
The proposed development reuses and preserves the existing farmhouse and barn at the entrance to the subdivision, which is also a criterion for endorsement when applicable. The proposed development addresses community asset considerations by fulfilling an unmet need for smaller, environmentally sensitive homes and lots with minimal impact on the land and surrounding area.
The Smart Growth Endorsement Committee also suggests that the developer limit pesticide and chemical use within the restrictive covenants to protect the existing wetland that flows into the St George River, continue to work with abutting property owners to build an understanding of the innovative design and minimal impact of the development and continue to work with the local conservation commission and the Georges River Land Trust to assemble a larger parcel of protected land with cooperation of abutting property owners.
The Friends of Midcoast Maine Smart Growth Endorsement Committee includes Jane Lafleur of Friends of Midcoast Maine; Nancy Carleton of CHR Realty, Steve Cole of Coastal Enterprises, Inc., Mark DesMeules of the Damariscotta River Association, Rick Elder of The First, N.A., Brian Kent of Kent Associates, Steve Malcom of Boothbay Homebuilders, Elizabeth McPherson of the Genesis Fund, Susan Watson of Time and Tide and Mary Kate Reny of Renys Inc. Friends of Midcoast Maine is a non-profit, smart growth organization committed to preserving and enhancing Maine natural resources, social and economic vitality, heritage and quality of life. FMM works to achieve its goals by building community consensus in support of smart-growth approaches to land use and transportation decisions.
For more information about this smart growth endorsement program call Jane Lafleur at (207) 236-1077 or about the Old Woods Farm development, call Jan Wirth at (207) 372-8024.
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