Georgetown Gets ‘Green’ Subdivision
Monday, November 19th, 2007 at 9:49 pm 
By Ryan BrownHere’s a link and an excerpt from a Statesman story last week:
Georgetown to get first green subdivision
By M.B. Taboada
AMERICAN STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Georgetown is getting its first all-green subdivision. Green Builders Inc. is creating an 800-acre master-planned community with 2,000 houses that will be environmentally friendly and feature rain harvesting and energy-saving heating and cooling systems.
First the facts
This new subdivision will contain 2000 energy efficient homes on 800 acres. The homes will be from 1800 to 2400 sqft and priced from the low $200’s to the $500’s. The neighborhood is being developed by Clark Wilson’s Green Builders Inc. The listed ‘green’ features are as follows:
- Homes oriented to minimize solar heat gain
- Foam insulation in walls and roof
- Recycled Lumber and local stone
- Compact fluorescent lighting
- Rainwater collection barrel
- Energy efficient appliances
- etc.
The Statesman article has further details and information about other upcoming ‘green’ developments. For further details here is the website for Georgetown Village.
See an approximate map of Georgetown Village below to get an idea of the location and size. Zoom out to see where it lies relative to Austin:
View Larger Map
Map area is approximate and not guaranteed
Now for some opinion
First lets talk in absolutes - I’m kind of stuck on the term ‘green subdivision’. The term ’subdivision’ means subdividing large tracts of land for new development, in this case for homes. Large tracts of land are (generally) only available on the outskirts of cities like Austin (RMMA being a notable exception). This effectively spreads out the population, sprawling our city across the land.
Sprawl is not considered ‘green’. It consumes undeveloped land, further extends and burdens utility and water service, and results in a greater population who require a longer commute to work/school/shopping etc. Therefore, how can there be a ‘green subdivision’? Isn’t this like ‘civil war’ or ‘jumbo shrimp’? Well, not exactly.
Relative to other subdivisions, Georgetown Village seems to be doing all of the right things. Their product appears to be far more efficient than that of the average new neighborhood. It is impressive that they have been able to do this while keeping costs fairly low, probably enabled based on their executive team’s experience with other volume builders (Lennar, Capital Pacific, Centex). Relatively speaking, this ‘green subdivision’ is far more efficient than your average builder neighborhood.
As a side note: This volume could drive down the cost of some of these ‘green’ features for all of us, encouraging further adoption. Definitely a plus.
Also, there may be enough local interest to fill the neighborhood with people who work in Georgetown. Based on the map it appears to be convenient to both the town center and the lake. I’m not very familiar with the Georgetown market, but I’d imagine this is an attractive location.
In any case, while it may not be absolutely ‘green’, it’s definitely a step in the right direction. At that price point I would recommend anyone planning to live and work in the Georgetown area to take a look. It’s probably the best ‘green’ bang for your greenback.
For further opinion, check out the Austinist’s coverage: Georgetown Goes Green With New Subdivision
Now let’s hear your opinion!
Is this the best path to affordable green housing? Or do the negatives of sprawl outweigh the positives of green?
