ALTAIR ECOVILLAGE … End-of-Year Report
We’ve come a long way this year, and are looking forward to a decisive 2025!
During 2024 we forged a new realty team, working with Iron Valley Realty of Exton, and developed a relationship with a new Land Planning firm, Nave Newell of Wayne. Permaculturist Adam Dusen of Hundred Fruit Farm joined us.
Over the course of the year our Members met often to help develop the site plan, both in an all-day workshop and in many Zoom and in-person sessions. We recently sat down with representatives of East Pikeland Township to update them on our project and review their requirements.
Thanks to all these efforts, we are almost ready to submit our Preliminary Plan Set to the Township for our SALDO (Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance) application. This will be the first project submitted that takes advantage of the Kimberton Low Impact Development (KLID) Ordinance which allows for a pedestrian walkway, remote parking, a Common House, and downsized, clustered housing. We will be taking advantage of the two “bonuses” which allow us to build more homes — one for developing a 55+ community and the other for complying with the Silver Certificate rating of the US Green Building Council’s “Sustainable SITES” initiative.
The SALDO application is quite extensive. It requires a traffic study, stormwater management plan, a sewer application, and “byright” plans showing what the standard zoning would have allowed versus our special ecovillage design. With the latter we are demonstrating improvements in regard to things like the number of cars, the amount of impervious paving, less fossil fuels usage, and more open space.
Applying for SALDO is a major milestone for Altair. The only parts of the ordinance requirements we don’t have to submit right now are the Homeowner Association documents, the ride-sharing program, and the SITES application. Other aspects of development, including additional landscaping, lighting, and various other amenities will follow. The Township will inform us about their ideas for connecting our site with trails, and other off-site improvements. We look forward to working with them.
