Mine Brook Road

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The 90-acre site is one of the last remaining parcels in the area. In a town that had become the fighting grounds to prevent more conventional development, many constraints developed over time. As a result, the land was neglected for years. We looked at the site’s characteristics not as constraints but as opportunities.

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We approached the township and the neighboring residents and fully engaged them in the design process. Driven by their feedback, we designed a property that protected and enhanced all of the attributes of the land that were most important to the community and the environment including:

  • Land preservation - More than 70% open space.
  • Ground Water Recharge and Soil Health – Natural
    stormwater management systems that improve soil and habitat health, create new wetlands, and naturally treat road runoff before it is returned to the ecosystem.
  • Sustainable Agriculture – Easily-accessible agricultural uses on-site that encourage community participation in sustainable, organic farming and greater understanding of our relationship to the land.
  • Green Building and Energy Efficient Design – Homes will be built to stringent green building standards.
  • Character Preservation – The configuration of nodes will resemble traditional farm compounds.
  • Viewshed protection – The most significant viewsheds into the property will be preserved through a 200 ft. setback and a design that creates vast swaths of meadow.
  • Natural Resource Enhancement – The existing woodlands and hedgerows will be preserved and enhanced; new wetlands will be constructed to improve water quality, provide areas for habitat, and increase groundwater recharge.

Through the process itself, by encouraging and educating all stakeholders (officials, neighbors, engineers, contractors) to look at development in new ways, we have created a model on which to base future development. The very nature of this project as a model is in itself regenerative. Likewise, once complete, homeowners and most importantly their children will be engaged in learning about their homes and surrounding areas; the constructed wetlands, the natural stormwater system, the on-site community organic farming and gardening, the natural resource enhancement programs –all of these will serve to enhance people’s relationship with nature.


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