Homebuyers move into new energy-efficient, eco-friendly complex
in Gilroy
Having the means to live in a state-of-the-art, eco-friendly
environment is not just a privilege reserved for the very rich
anymore.
That is, it’s not if you’re buying from
”
green developer
”
Chris Cote.
Homebuyers move into new energy-efficient, eco-friendly complex in Gilroy
Having the means to live in a state-of-the-art, eco-friendly environment is not just a privilege reserved for the very rich anymore.
That is, it’s not if you’re buying from “green developer” Chris Cote.
Last year, when Cote placed four unfinished energy-saving solar powered homes on the market, all were snatched up and bought within a month. And they weren’t bought by just those who would normally be able to afford three-bedroom, two-story homes in the heart of Gilroy overlooking Las Animas Veterans Memorial Park.
When Cote pitched the small complex to planning commissioners, he vowed to sell the homes to public servants of middle class wages – firemen or police officers, nurses, teachers – the unsung hard-working heroes of the community.
By not selling the homes for what he could have, Cote kept his promise. A former city councilman, a fire captain and the organizers of an animal shelter are among the new tenants. The houses sold for about $715,000 each, below what they could have fetched with the environmental technology they boast.
“You could say I wanted to do a little social engineering along with high-tech engineering,” Cote offered.
Gilroy is poised to build 400 to 500 new homes every year for the next decade, according to the Gilroy Planning Commission. While other existing homes and even a business or two have been enhanced with solar power in the area, Gilroy Independence is the first cluster of new homes in the city with solar and energy efficient innovations built in, designed and implemented from the ground up.
It was so unheard of, apparently, that the local PG&E office had to order special meters for the project from San Francisco.
“There is no way we could have gotten our solar arrays on our region’s first-ever solar homes up and running without the help of Dave Turner, the solar power specialist for PG&E up in San Francisco, and also without the help of Wendy Sarsfield, who also really went to bat to help us get on the grid on time,” Cote said.
Sarsfield is a spokesperson and public liaison for PG&E.
“This is a good example for other developers,” Cote added, while giving a tour of the soon-to-be gated tiny community. “And I still made plenty of money.”
Trees and tennis
When Albert Mirko stands on the balcony of his new Gilroy Independence home and looks out over Las Animas Veterans Memorial Park, he sees one of the most beautiful spectacles he can imagine.
Tennis courts – four of them, and another one under construction. This past weekend Mirko, a competitive tennis player and the director of TownCats, a no-kill animal shelter in Morgan Hill, and his wife Rosie were moving into one of the four newly completed homes.
Of course Rosie may appreciate the 15-acre expanse of lawn, elm and conifer trees that grace the park, as well as a statuesque, 100-year-old oak tree right outside her front door.
What they both appreciate is how energy efficient their new home is. A dozen compact solar-panel arrays generate all the electricity the couple is likely to use. Along with built-in technologies that make the new homes among the most eco-friendly constructed to date in the city, they also symbolize higher density land use that enables the four, 1,750-square-foot homes to be constructed on a lot that previously held one house. Yet they all have the exterior space for lawns, or landscaping and even a garden.
“What originally attracted us was the use of solar energy so we don’t have to waste energy,” Mirko said, and then with a wry grin added that another reason was the proximity to the tennis courts, which lie about 75 yards from his front door.
Cote said he designed the homes to capture much of the historic ambiance of Gilroy, down to replicated lampposts used in Gilroy circa 1886. The two-car detached garages were modeled after carriage garages in the 1800s.
But it’s what’s inside the houses that truly set them apart from cookie-cutter houses springing up around the South Valley. He points to a home built by local builder Gary Walton at Sixth and Rosanna streets as one of the impetuses for the concept. For example, the water heaters are so efficient that they burn 99.9 percent of the natural gas used to power the furnaces – so efficient that they do not have to be vented.
The solar array – 12 individual 3-foot-by-5-foot panels – provides enough electricity to meet 60 percent of the needs of a family of four, and 100 percent of the demand for a two-person family. Special meters are installed to reverse back charges to PG&E.
Some of the efficiencies are barely noticeable. The solar panels match the color of the roof and only rise a few inches above the roof. A separate solar panel powers a fan that draws warm air out of attic during the summer to help cool the house. During the winter it draws out cold air that would cause more energy to be used to warm the house.
For Mirko and his wife, the efficiencies will mean virtually no electricity bill and only a small gas bill, Cote said. The air conditioner and dishwasher are both EcoStar rated.
Portions of the driveways look like cobblestones, but are actually permeable paving stones that allow water to seep down into the ground to provide water for the root systems for the nearby 85- to 100-year-old oak trees. Around the trees themselves are wood chips that are dispersed in a mote around the roots. Thick metal cables strung high in the tree tops reinforce and support upper branches.
Cote said he spent thousands of dollars on arborists and tree surgeons in order to save the old-growth oaks. Other developers would have downed the towering sentries in order to squeeze another home in.
“Putting permeable paving stones in, it’s more expensive than concrete,” he said. “But look how nicer it looks.”
Indeed, the small community of pastel colored homes, the “cobblestone” and old growth trees gives a feel of yesteryear to the project. Cote credits much of the aesthetics to his contractor Scotty McNamara.
“I was just the developer and originator of the concept that financed it, designed it, and made it become reality,” Cote said. “Scotty actually built it and made it so beautiful.”
Pay-back is … beautiful
Inside the homes, it’s clear Cote and his crew did not skimp on details. All the floors are polished hardwood, with Mexican travertine stone floors in the kitchens. Recessed lighting and crown molding grace the ceilings.
Each home has a wood-picket porch front, with a balcony and mezzanine above.
What isn’t as readily visible is the high-efficiency insulation, a fire suppression system in the ceiling, double-pane windows and light fixtures equipped with low-voltage fluorescent tubing.
But the most advantageous feature of the homes is, Cote insists, the solar technology. Since the technology became available in the 1960s, new technologies have increased efficiency exponentially with every passing year. Cote said he spent $20,000 on the solar power for each home, but that in eight years, the improvement will pay for itself. The state subsidizes one-third of the cost, as long as the solar configuration used is guaranteed to last 20 years and in that time, still put out 95 percent of its peak capacity. Cote believes his solar panels will last much longer than that.
“During the day it’s selling power back to the power grid,” Cote quipped. “The meter spins backwards.
“They are the first homes designed and engineered and built green and ecological throughout,” he said.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenneger has called for one million solar powered homes to be built in the state by 2018.
Only 900,996 more to go.
Pinnacle City Editor Dennis Taylor contributed to this report.
