Rogers : Habitat for Humanity site gets approval of planners
Posted on Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Rogers’ Planning Commission approved plans for the largest Habitat for Humanity housing project in Benton County on Tuesday night, allowing officials to break ground on the 17-family subdivision Thursday. Debby Wieneke, the project’s executive director, said she plans to obtain a grading permit today and begin building the first home on the 5-acre tract Aug. 12. The $ 2 million Habitat Trails residential subdivision on Old Wire Road south of East Sandlewood Drive will include 11 singlefamily lots and three duplex lots on about 4. 7 acres. Commissioners in January approved several variances for the planned unit development including reduced setbacks, narrower internal streets and paving materials other than asphalt.
The changes were made to accommodate what Wieneke and University of Arkansas at Fayetteville experts who worked on the project consider environmentally sound design. Street widths will include 8 feet of “greencrete” alongside the pavement that can handle parked cars. “Greencrete” combines concrete blocks with grass between them.
Pipes for stormwater will be replaced with “bioswales,” or stormwater gardens lined with gravel and deep-rooted vegetation that filter water themselves, said Aaron Gabriel, the project director from UA’s Community Design Center.
Less pavement creates less impervious surfaces for unfiltered water to run off the property. About an acre of land will be used for a community park, Wieneke said.
“We already save as much green space as we can,” she said. “Being energy-efficient with a green home and a small footprint on that land is good for the family.”
Commission member Ron Shelby said the project’s value overrides its deviation from city codes for stormwater and street requirements.
“A lot of things they are doing is meeting the intention of the ordinances, just not the letter of them,” he said. “We’re trying to accept alternative ways, and this is an area we’ve never dealt with.”
The project has won two national awards for its design. The American Institute of Architects awarded the design with the 2006 Education Honors Award and the Environmental Design and Research Association presented the project with a planning award in the 2006 EDRA / Places Awards for Place Design, Planning and Research.
This is the first project of this size to be planned by Habitat for Humanity in Benton County, as most projects involve no more than two homes, Wieneke said. But larger projects with environmentally-safe materials are a trend in Habitat for Humanity projects nationally. Wieneke said similar projects are in various stages of development in Colorado, Minnesota, Georgia and Washington.
The chapter partnered with the UA Community Design Center and two other UA departments to complete the project’s design last summer. Wieneke said she plans to continue with Gabriel on similar projects once she finds and buys more land.
Habitat for Humanity in Benton County plans to design five homes in Gravette, two in Decatur and possibly some in Bentonville this year. Next year, Wieneke said the chapter will focus on Pea Ridge and Siloam Springs.
Nine families are on a waiting list for the Rogers project and the others throughout Benton County. To qualify, applicants must meet Department of Housing and Urban Development income guidelines, have lived or worked in Benton County for at least a year and have legally earned income for the past three years.
Wieneke said she plans to complete all the Rogers homes by the end of the year, with each home taking between 6-8 weeks to build.
To contact this reporter: lboch@arkansasonline. com
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