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| Text by Jeff Book | ||||||||||
| Community Development: Bayside | ||||||||||
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| A smartly planned Delaware project balances new homes and golf with sensitivity to its coastal environment. | ||||||||||
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| For most golf communities, “green design” merely refers to those manicured patches around the holes. But developer Carl M. Freeman Communities applied high environmental standards to all facets of Bayside. The 867-acre project, on Assawoman Bay near Fenwick Island, Delaware, includes a Jack Nicklaus Signature course, as well as 287 undisturbed acres permanently protected under a conservation easement. Holes and homes alike were sited to preserve forests and wetlands. Designed as a buffer between housing and natural areas, the bayfront golf course sacrifices waterfront sites for shared water views and open space. With overall density at fewer than two units per acre, a projected 1,640 total homes of various types will cluster in five minicommunities, each with a recreation center.
The property will send fewer runoff-borne pollutants into local waterways than when it was mostly farmland. Project consultant Edward Launay of Environmental Resources Inc. points out decorative ponds and water hazards that double as storm water–management basins. “The whole course is plumbed, with drains under tees and greens that funnel water to management ponds, which also capture water from storm drains in the housing areas,” he says. Drawing from the ponds to irrigate, the course recycles fertilizer along with water. Gaining approval for the project involved an alphabet soup of federal, state, and county agencies. But the developer went beyond basic compliance. All homes in the community will carry the EPA Energy Star rating, which means they’re at least 30 percent more energy-efficient than standard, built-to-code houses. Bayside proves a carefully created community can benefit the environment, now and for generations to come. For more, call 877/436-9998 or visit livebayside.com. |
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| Copyright © 2008 Coastal Living | ||||||||||
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| ( http://coastalliving.com/coastal/living/communities/article/0,14587,1132903,00.html ) | ||||||||||
