A Love Letter to Habitat to Humanity’s LEED-ND Development

by Tony Chavira

Oh, Habitat for Humanity development in Sobrante Park in Oakland, how I love thee... let me count the ways:

1) Solar power panels
2) Passive solar design that eliminates the need for air conditioning
3) Double-thick concrete foundation for thermal insulation
4) Concrete made of 40 percent fly ash content, lending added durability and requiring less energy to manufacture
5) Wall insulation made of recycled paper scraps
6) 40 percent of wood used in construction certified by the Forest Stewardship Council
7) Milgard fiberglass windows
8) On-demand hot water heaters
9) Compact fluorescent lighting
10) No or low-VOC paints throughout

When Kaid Benfield at the National Resource Defense Council's Switchboard Blog pointed you out to me, it was love at first sight.  I didn't know what to do with myself, I must've been so impressed that I couldn't contain my feelings any longer:

According to the project's website, the homes are located a half mile from another Habitat development of 40 houses on 105th Avenue, in the Sobrante Park Neighborhood of East Oakland. The buildings are two-story wood frame homes, with a total development cost of $7 million.  The first six were built in two weeks in 2006 following a ground-breaking and "Builder's Blitz" by partners KB Homes and Pulte Homes.  Eight additional units were framed from foundations to roofs in just four days during a 2007 Earth Day Build-A-Thon. Many of the homes will be dedicated on December 12th, when the keys will be handed over to the new homeowners.  (The homeowners also participated in the project's construction.)

Habitat purchased the property in 2002 with assistance from the City of Oakland and the Center for Creative Land Recycling. The organization then partnered with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) to transform the property into a healthy neighborhood for deserving low-income families. The DTSC, which awarded Habitat a $425,000 low-interest loan to finance the brownfield investigation, worked closely with the organization to approve the subsequent cleanup plan.  Roughly 300,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil had to be removed and replaced.

Oh, but if only you were closer to Los Angeles! (Heavy, melodramatic sigh!)  Maybe now that El Monte has taken its $1 billion mixed-use transit village idea back into the hands of responsible public citizens, I can have something to fawn over more locally.  I just hope that most of the transit village units will be affordable.  I've been hurt so many times.  I don't know if my little heart can handle any more trixy developers.

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