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Land Use Win-Win

One of the biggest problems confronting the shortage of affordable housing is the cost of land in the Mad River Valley. We can use Optimum Value Engineering to build homes that cost less. We can use proper siting and passive solar and advanced insulating materials to insure we can afford to heat our homes once they are built. We can design homes that suit our lifestyles that are sized properly to reduce our impact on the earth and in turn make them more affordable to build and to heat and maintain. We can use building materials that are “green” and healthy to give us homes that help to heal us and our world.

BUT we still have to deal with the cost of land which creates a huge stumbling block to being able to have work force housing, housing that the average Valley resident can afford.

Picture this if you will — a property that is part pasture and part forested area. The owners wish to conserve as much of the property as they can, but economics play a part. Because the property is not actively used as agricultural, the grant monies available to purchase those conservation easements are very minimal. The tax incentives to donate easements on the forested areas do not work financially. Is the only alternative to chop the property up and plop as many second homes on it as you can? I think not.

There is a wonderful win-win possibility here. The forested area could be conserved with the donation of conservation easements. Recreation trails could be developed through that area. A number of sensitively sited home sites around the perimeter of the pasture could be developed and reserved for work force, permanently affordable housing. Homes could be built that are well designed and insulated, compact in size but well suited to their location. These homes could be purchased by teachers or small business owners, or craftspeople or any number of local workers. These homes could even be designed with accessory apartments over their garages to provide affordable rental spaces and extra income for the owners. A portion of the pasture areas could be set aside for community gardens and agriculture so the residents could grow some of their own food, or have a few chickens. If the property were located near one of our Villages, the residents could walk to town or to school.

This scenario could be a win-win for everyone — A win for the owners who would achieve their objective of conserving most of the land, while still getting economic benefit. A win for the land, which would be mostly conserved and protected for wildlife and for recreational uses. A win for the residents who could live affordably. A win for our Valley which would have more work force housing, more conserved land, and be able to keep some of our workers living where they work, or keep a young family from moving away from the Valley.

The Mad River Valley Housing Coalition and the Mad River Valley Planning District are actively seeking such opportunities. If you know of a property that might be suited for a combination of uses, or even one lot that might work for a demonstration of how wonderful a well designed work force housing home could look and live, please contact Linda Lloyd, Executive Director of the MRVPD at 496-7173 or mrvpd@madriver.com.