LandChoices: Opportunities for Landowners to Preserve Their Land

Land Choices: Changing Development in America

More benefits of
conservation design
From Randall Arendt

1. Greater flexibility in lot sizes allows developers to create lots smaller than one acre, for empty-nesters who wish to minimize their routine outdoor maintenance work (mowing lawns, raking leaves, etc.). It also enables developers to take far greater advantage of special places on the property (such as knolls offering views of ponds, meadows, etc.) by siting a larger number of less-wide lots there than would ordinarily be possible.

2. The ability to divide and sell parts of the protected open space as "conservancy lots" enables them to tap into the higher-end Country-Property market, boosting their profit margin and also adding value to all lots in their vicinity.

3. Reduced site grading costs are another "hidden incentive". One developer in Texas who hired me to redesign his 60-acre subdivision told me that his site grading costs plummeted from $300,000 to $50,000 as a result of my re-design, according to his own engineer's calculation of both layouts. In addition, it enabled 24 of 25 large trees to be preserved in this otherwise open landscape, retaining the value they add to the neighborhood. (The dollar saving is documented in a letter he later sent to me.) He deeply appreciated the quarter-million dollar savings that my conservation design enabled him to achieve.

4. Reduced street costs are sometimes another benefit. In Pleasant View TN, I recently redesigned an 86-lot subdivision in such a way that I saved the developer $212,000 (by his own calculations), through wiser street layouts involving less street length.

5. Greater attractiveness, provided by the open space, is another benefit having direct economic value. Another client of mine, in Indiana, told me that my design enabled him to charge $20,000 to $25,000 more per lot, compared with houselots without open space, such as those he had developed the previous year in the same community, for the same upscale market, at the same overall density. (continued at right)

(5. continued from left)
On that 40-lot subdivision which I designed, the total added value was therefore between $800,000 and $1,000,000. (This increase in lot value is documented in a letter from him as well.)

6. Faster absorption rates are another economic advantage created with very significant amount of open space are preserved. One of my current projects in the Tallahassee area (www.centerville-florida.com) surprised even my client, who wrote to me several weeks ago to let me know that 86 of the first 87 lots in Phase One had sold out in seven hours flat. Both he and his investors were very impressed, and greatly pleased, with the results.

At the Sugar Creek Preserve with 70% open space in Lafayette (Walworth Co.) WI, fully 15 of the 52 lots were pre-sold prior to advertising, double the developer's original projection (see www.sugarcreekpreserve.com .)

7. (continued from article at left) Research Results: One researcher, who recently studied 184 lots in conservation subdivisions and in conventional subdivisions in South Kingstown, RI, reported the following results:

- Developers' costs were 28% lower ($7400 less, per lot), compared with conventional subdivisions

- Lots in conservation subdivisions carried a 14% premium (about $15,000 more per lot), compared with conventional developments

- Lots sold 47% more quickly, compared with those in conventional subdivisions.