Written by Rob Kundert
Tuesday, 02 December 2008

Denver-area development’s tree-saving, low impact development approach draws 2008 Visionary Project of the Year Award. Tom Morton knew they had something special when he looked upon the two pieces of land that Calgary, Canada-based Carma Developers eventually purchased in Aurora, Colorado in 1997. The old-growth stands of native Ponderosa Pine trees in the area known as the Black Forest, southeast of Denver, would become the signature feature of what would become known as Tallyn’s Reach.

“It’s a fabulous piece of ground. Dramatic topography,” said Morton, senior vice president of the development company’s U.S. operation, Carma Colorado. “Most people think of the area east of Denver as flat, but this piece of property has over 200 vertical-feet of fall from one end to the other. It’s bisected with drainage ways and was covered with more than 2000 Ponderosa pine trees.”

In fact, the tree population is significantly higher since development began in 1999. Not only did the developer put a high priority on retaining the old-growth stands of trees, but more than 5,000 new trees have been incorporated into the project.

Primarily a mixed-use, residential community of approximately 965 acres, Tallyn’s Reach is planned to contain over 2,000 residences, two elementary schools, a 77,000-square-foot, regional police/fire/library complex, neighborhood commercial and retail development, and close to 300 acres of parks and open space. The development offers a wide range of housing types including apartments, starter homes, first-time move up and custom homes that provide a diverse range of home prices that result in a mix of income and buyer demographics within the community.

Development is near completion. Upon full build out, it will preserve the vast majority of the indigenous Ponderosa Pine trees, some of which are more than 200 years old. Extensive planning and preservation techniques were used to identify and integrate existing trees into the surrounding development. There was also significant effort to maintain the native terrain and water resources.

Walkable, self-contained neighborhoods offer residents plentiful open space with pedestrian and bicycle-trail connections to schools, community meeting spaces, day care facilities, pools, parks and other amenities.

With a stated commitment to environmentally-friendly development, and the adage, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children,” the developer supports green building, Smart Growth and low-impact development. The approach has served the developer well, even in a down market, and price points ranging from $250,000 to $1 million.

“We’re down to about three parcels of land, one is a multi-family piece, the other two are custom-lot pieces,” Morton said. “Our builders have had over 64 sales to date this year, which in this market, at the price point we’re at, is testament to the project that it is.”

Tree Ordinance

Trained as a landscape architect, Morton came to the project as Carma’s only employee in its only office in the U.S. when the land was purchased. One of the knocks against many Denver-area developments was that they created a “sea of roof tops,” primarily due to relatively flat topography and lack of trees. Tallyn’s Reach would be the exception.

“We started by basically saying, ‘All trees are sacred. We’re going to start by making those off limits,’” Morton said. “Our senior management, based in Calgary, recognized from day one that this was a special site.”

A tree mitigation ordinance evolved during the course of the two-year entitlement process, which found favor with city officials. This resulted in the preservation of more than 99 percent of existing trees during construction. Any tree damaged or lost during construction was replaced by the builder.

Not only did this preserve the existing trees, but it helped reforest parts of the old growth portions that were damaged from farming and other agricultural activity.

Early on, a forester was hired to go out and assessed every tree on the site. It was quickly learned that not every tree could or should be saved. Some were diseased. Some were at the end of their life cycle. Some were under existing stress and would not likely survive any kind of development around them.

“We tried to move trees when we could, but in some cases we did have to take some down,” Morton said. “In those cases, we mitigated it on a one-to-one basis. If we took down an eight-inch caliper tree, we had to put in an eight-inch-caliper’s worth of trees, whether that was two, four-inch trees or four, two-inch trees.”

During the course of designing the project, whole areas were marked off and set aside as park space.

In one particular case, significant efforts were made to alter design plans to save a large, “specimen” tree that was located in the middle of a development area.

“It was a beauty,” Morton said. “I always like to point that one out to people. It’s probably been there 150 years. That was our mindset.”

Making the Grade

The obvious positive, spin-off effect of protecting so many trees is that the land itself was protected as well. Innovative grading techniques were incorporated and care was taken to take advantage of surface drainage patterns that provided a natural stormwater system. Those natural flow ways were treated much the same as the trees.

“We worked to use those to define the boundaries of our planning areas. It actually worked out great,” Morton said. The development benefited from some early regulatory guidelines which allowed for an on-stream regional detention pond. That allowance significantly cut down on the number of smaller ponds.

In the end, there were very few development parcels that had more than 100 lots in them. Rather than super impose a development plan on the landscape, the developer did the opposite. In one instance, Carma invested $1.5 million in stream improvements to revitalize a drainage way. The use of native grasses and plantings throughout the project, coupled with drip-irrigation systems for critical areas, led to significant water savings for the community and its residents.

“We worked backwards and said, ‘Here’s the trees. Here’s the drainage ways. We have some major roadways,” Morton said. “How can we work those through? What’s left over and how do we turn those into our development parcels?’”

Green Building

Tallyn’s Reach was the first new development in Colorado to require all its builders, before adhering to such standards became fashionable, to meet the standards set by the Colorado Built Green program.

A design review committee works to assure the level of quality in the look of the homes and the materials that are used. In the early days of the development, Carma-Colorado relied on mid-sized home builders who could adapt their building practices to meet such guidelines. Then terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 exacerbated an already weak economy which significantly affected the local building industry.

Mid-sized builders were being bought out by the national firms and soon, the developer found itself in negotiations with large, production builders, which posed challenges.

“A lot of the things we asked them to do were difficult for them because they had to make changes to their standard plans,” Morton said. “In the end, I think they wanted to be in Tallyn’s Reach. Even today, it is the second best-selling master plan in the Denver-Metro area and its price points are the second highest there as well.”

The Community Connection

Community outreach has been a priority. For seven years, Morton said he made it a point to personally attend meetings, large and small, that involved the project. The effort showed leadership and a willingness on the part of the developer to keep the lines of clear communication open.

“When we go into a project, we are a little different than some developers that are true speculators,” Morton said. “We are into our projects to the end. We bought it in 1997, and here it is 2008. We’re still actively involved in the community.”

An example of that integration is the relationship with the local YMCA, which the developer invited to manage a range of programs and services in Tallyn’s Reach, from swimming and hiking classes to daycare.

“The Y integrates programs that really make the community hum. Whatever the community wants, they are there for them,” Morton pointed out. The developer also makes a point to be active in local government initiatives, clubs and organizations, which include financial support and volunteer hours contributed by staff.

There is also the physical interface with the local community. Adjacent to the development are local and regional shopping opportunities, office and regional recreational facilities. Meanwhile, to bolster communication within Tallyn’s Reach, residents have access to a community intranet that allows them to keep track of community events, discuss topics of community concern and follow development activities within the community.

Visionary Vision

Tallyn’s Reach was envisioned to be a development that would tread lightly on the land and would not sacrifice the natural environment for the sake of short-term profits, while holding the potential to be quite profitable. It embraces low-impact development and sustainable principles while providing residents with a truly unique living experience.

The vision was created to take advantage of a beautiful property situated on the northern edge of an area containing remnant populations of old growth forest. This valuable resource would not only be preserved and contribute to higher property values, it would create an identifiable character in combination with the gently rolling terrain and panoramic views of the Rocky Mountains. To make such a vision a reality, according to Morton, you have to have the support of upper management and a staff that “gets it.”

“The vision is only as good as the people who try to implement it,” he said. “To this day, when I go out there and I see something that doesn’t look right, my guys can tell you that they hear from me to go back and look to see if they executed that correctly.”

That doesn’t mean that the project is exactly what was on the drawing board back in 1999. Some of the amenities, such as the library, police and fire buildings were not there early on and what was considered a best management practice a decade ago may not be on the list a decade later.

“Plans change because times change, but if you have that strong vision, you can test it. You can make decisions on whether they are going to fit. But you can’t modify the vision. That would be like changing your ethics,” Morton said. “We have tested the vision and the end speaks for itself. We have a great project that people want to be a part of.”

With permission from: http://www.sldtonline.com/content/view/571/102/