mgd323
27 March 2007, 10:09 AM
$800 million EcoVillage planned
By Karen Smith Welch
karen.welch@amarillo.com
Publication Date: 03/27/07
A planned $600 million to $800 million community on Amarillo's western edge will harvest its own water from Texas Panhandle rains and generate its own renewable energy for homes and businesses.
Global EcoVillage Inc. is seeking financial backers for Lovelock Village, a 630-acre community designed by Biosphere 2 architect Phil Hawes, now a Bushland resident.
Several years ago, Hawes formed a friendship and alliance with another Bushland-based environmentalist and philanthropist, Mary Emeny, who secured the land for Lovelock Village 2 1/2 to 3 miles north of Interstate 40 on North Soncy Road.
The village tract sits on the southern border of Wildcat Bluff Nature Center, 2301 N. Soncy, and 170 acres of it will remain undeveloped, as a conservation easement, Emeny said.
"We can help with the land," Emeny said, "but we can't help with the capital. That's what's happening now."
Hawes said Global EcoVillage - based at Oracle, Ariz., home of Biosphere 2 - is putting together a group of investors.
"We like small investors," he said. "We would also like a large investor, but we are not interested at all in losing control of the design or the basic decision-making process."
Lovelock Village would be built in phases during a period of six to seven years. Each phase would encompass about 32 dwellings, Hawes said.
He estimated the company needs about $10 million for the initial year, with that figure increasing to about $120 million to $130 million each by the third and fourth years.
Work could begin as soon as August or September, Hawes said.
The company's goal is for Lovelock Village to become a model for ecologically sustainable communities throughout the United States, said Emeny, who joined Global EcoVillage's board of directors in January.
"Somebody's got to bite the bullet and say, 'This is how we learn to live sustainably on this planet,' because our usual stuff is not working," Emeny said. "The normal American lifestyle is not sustainable.
"The technology to live sustainably is known - the basic principals, for example, of how to make clean water out of sewage. It's a known technology being used in a lot of places. The technology's there for how to produce energy from the sun and wind. There are building materials that are nontoxic and totally green."
Hawes said Lovelock Village won't be like his Biosphere 2, a 3.15-acre, research environment now open to tourists wanting to see its glass-domed ocean, savannah, rain forest and desert.
"Biosphere is a scientific piece of equipment, a rather large one," he said. "This is supposed to be integrated with Amarillo. We're not trying to be an exclusive enclave out by ourselves.
"This community is trying to aim at things like water, wastewater, solid waste, renewable energy, transportation - to solve those problems on a small scale."
The Lovelock Village Web-site describes a proposed community of 16 neighborhoods with homes, restaurants, entertainment and commercial businesses, manufacturing, schools, parks and plazas.
Residents would park on the village's fringes and use bicycles, horses or a community transportation system to travel to homes and businesses built with eco-friendly materials.
"What we're really trying to do," Hawes said, "is show that it is possible to be sustainable and to continue to be sustainable even in a period of change and increasing drought."
Hawes has had "very preliminary" discussions with city of Amarillo Planning Director Kelley Shaw because the village site sits within the city's five-mile extraterritorial jurisdiction, Shaw said. Texas cities maintain ETJs to control some aspects of subdivision development - such as minimum lot sizes, street widths and street layout for traffic flow - just outside their borders.
Shaw called the ecovillage "an interesting concept. My planning side is always intrigued by different types of development, and sustainable development is kind of the buzzword these days. But the city employee side of me also is concerned about how a new development like that might affect the city of Amarillo. Not only is it in our ETJ, it's very close to the city."
The city could be in a situation to annex the community someday, for example.
"You want to have a decent development," he said. "You don't want to be annexing or taking on a problem."
There also is the question of whether the village would want to incorporate itself as a municipality. Because it lies in the city's ETJ, it would need Amarillo City Commission approval to do so, Shaw said.
Lovelock Village
Lovelock Village Design Director Phil Hawes will discuss the proposed ecologically sustainable community planned for North Soncy Road.
When: 7 p.m. today
Where: Wildcat Bluff Nature Center, 2301 N. Soncy Road Lovelock Village unique features
Eco-friendly construction materials
Pedestrian and bike-oriented community
Bio-diversity in "edible landscaping"
An open-space commons of undeveloped nature land
Energy from local generation of renewable energy
A community transportation system eliminating the need for local cars
Wastewater recycled into agricultural production
Water to come from aquifer recharged from rainwater harvesting
Local food production to serve for increased community sustainability
http://www.amarillo.com/stories/032707/new_7137769.shtml
By Karen Smith Welch
karen.welch@amarillo.com
Publication Date: 03/27/07
A planned $600 million to $800 million community on Amarillo's western edge will harvest its own water from Texas Panhandle rains and generate its own renewable energy for homes and businesses.
Global EcoVillage Inc. is seeking financial backers for Lovelock Village, a 630-acre community designed by Biosphere 2 architect Phil Hawes, now a Bushland resident.
Several years ago, Hawes formed a friendship and alliance with another Bushland-based environmentalist and philanthropist, Mary Emeny, who secured the land for Lovelock Village 2 1/2 to 3 miles north of Interstate 40 on North Soncy Road.
The village tract sits on the southern border of Wildcat Bluff Nature Center, 2301 N. Soncy, and 170 acres of it will remain undeveloped, as a conservation easement, Emeny said.
"We can help with the land," Emeny said, "but we can't help with the capital. That's what's happening now."
Hawes said Global EcoVillage - based at Oracle, Ariz., home of Biosphere 2 - is putting together a group of investors.
"We like small investors," he said. "We would also like a large investor, but we are not interested at all in losing control of the design or the basic decision-making process."
Lovelock Village would be built in phases during a period of six to seven years. Each phase would encompass about 32 dwellings, Hawes said.
He estimated the company needs about $10 million for the initial year, with that figure increasing to about $120 million to $130 million each by the third and fourth years.
Work could begin as soon as August or September, Hawes said.
The company's goal is for Lovelock Village to become a model for ecologically sustainable communities throughout the United States, said Emeny, who joined Global EcoVillage's board of directors in January.
"Somebody's got to bite the bullet and say, 'This is how we learn to live sustainably on this planet,' because our usual stuff is not working," Emeny said. "The normal American lifestyle is not sustainable.
"The technology to live sustainably is known - the basic principals, for example, of how to make clean water out of sewage. It's a known technology being used in a lot of places. The technology's there for how to produce energy from the sun and wind. There are building materials that are nontoxic and totally green."
Hawes said Lovelock Village won't be like his Biosphere 2, a 3.15-acre, research environment now open to tourists wanting to see its glass-domed ocean, savannah, rain forest and desert.
"Biosphere is a scientific piece of equipment, a rather large one," he said. "This is supposed to be integrated with Amarillo. We're not trying to be an exclusive enclave out by ourselves.
"This community is trying to aim at things like water, wastewater, solid waste, renewable energy, transportation - to solve those problems on a small scale."
The Lovelock Village Web-site describes a proposed community of 16 neighborhoods with homes, restaurants, entertainment and commercial businesses, manufacturing, schools, parks and plazas.
Residents would park on the village's fringes and use bicycles, horses or a community transportation system to travel to homes and businesses built with eco-friendly materials.
"What we're really trying to do," Hawes said, "is show that it is possible to be sustainable and to continue to be sustainable even in a period of change and increasing drought."
Hawes has had "very preliminary" discussions with city of Amarillo Planning Director Kelley Shaw because the village site sits within the city's five-mile extraterritorial jurisdiction, Shaw said. Texas cities maintain ETJs to control some aspects of subdivision development - such as minimum lot sizes, street widths and street layout for traffic flow - just outside their borders.
Shaw called the ecovillage "an interesting concept. My planning side is always intrigued by different types of development, and sustainable development is kind of the buzzword these days. But the city employee side of me also is concerned about how a new development like that might affect the city of Amarillo. Not only is it in our ETJ, it's very close to the city."
The city could be in a situation to annex the community someday, for example.
"You want to have a decent development," he said. "You don't want to be annexing or taking on a problem."
There also is the question of whether the village would want to incorporate itself as a municipality. Because it lies in the city's ETJ, it would need Amarillo City Commission approval to do so, Shaw said.
Lovelock Village
Lovelock Village Design Director Phil Hawes will discuss the proposed ecologically sustainable community planned for North Soncy Road.
When: 7 p.m. today
Where: Wildcat Bluff Nature Center, 2301 N. Soncy Road Lovelock Village unique features
Eco-friendly construction materials
Pedestrian and bike-oriented community
Bio-diversity in "edible landscaping"
An open-space commons of undeveloped nature land
Energy from local generation of renewable energy
A community transportation system eliminating the need for local cars
Wastewater recycled into agricultural production
Water to come from aquifer recharged from rainwater harvesting
Local food production to serve for increased community sustainability
http://www.amarillo.com/stories/032707/new_7137769.shtml