Brytan has struck GOLD!!

The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) just awarded GOLD certification to a home built in Brytan by EG Gonzales. This home is the first GOLD LEED-H certified home in Alachua County. EG and his son, Eric, built a home that is not only energy efficient but was built recognizing the importance of recycling, sustainability and durability. The home, already sold, also featured many of the custom touches often seen on much larger homes.

Congratulations to EG and Eric Gonzales for being the first to build LEED-H gold in the area!!

What's So Great About New Urbanism?

Check out this fun YouTube video below on TNDs and new urbanism. Note the opening scene and the water color shown to the left. It is BRYTAN!! Michael Morrissey is the artist and he drew it for the Brytan Charrette in 2000. The video clip is under 3 minutes and worth watching to get a quick overview on why communities like Brytan are not only convenient and friendly but also sustainable.

Spring is here!

Not only are the houses green in Brytan, but the wonderful street trees are showing their green side! The many plants in the Butterfly Garden are beginning to bloom and the entire area looks great. This time of year is perfect for strolling on the trails and envisioning what your home could look like. Brytan is the place to live if you believe in sustainable design, energy conservation and walkable communities. Go and enjoy the wonderful weather!!

Are you Green Today?

Today is St. Patrick's Day -- A day associated with corned beef, cabbage and potatoes; Irish Whisky and Guiness; shamrocks and leprechauns; and, last but not least, wearing green so you don't get pinched.  

With green on your mind, it is a good time to consider how green you are every day:

• Are you conserving energy by adjusting your thermostat, using a programmable thermostat, or even opening your windows and not using your AC or heater at all (particularly during pleasant Spring weather!)
• Are you conserving water by installing appropriate landscapes that don't require irrigation, by installing low flow bubblers on your faucets, waiting to run your clothes washer or dishwasher until you have a full load, or by simply turning off the water while you brush your teeth?
• Are you recycling your metals, plastics and paper products, and better yet, are you thinking about unnecessary packaging when you purchase products?
• Are you buying local products and using local businesses which not only helps your local economy but can also save transportation costs?
• Are you starting slow and slowing when approaching red lights by removing your foot from that gas (which will conserve fuel) as well as keeping your car maintained and your tires inflated?  
• When choosing a new place to live, do you consider proximity to work, schools and basic needs such as grocery stores, banks and libraries?  
• Are you keeping the filters changed on your AC, choosing low VOC cleaning products and considering the ingredients in your cleaning products?
• Are you choosing to give services or gift cards or recycled gifts rather than adding to increasing piles of belongings that your friends have?
• Are you choosing to walk or bicycle or carpool to some of your destinations?
• Are you eating lower on the food chain more often and choosing organic, local or healthier choices for your family?

These are just a few of the many ways that you can lessen your impact on our planet.   While today may be one of the few days in the year you may choose to wear green, tomorrow and every day after could be a day you choose to live green.    

What does this have to do with Brytan?   Living in a sustainably built, energy efficient home with water saving fixtures and clean air systems, that is located in an urban environment will lower your carbon footprint and save water and electricity.    While we hope to see you you in Brytan, we hope that you choose to live green every day.

The Give and Take of a Charrette

After sending out numerous invitations and publicizing the meeting times, the charrette began. We were extremely pleased with the turn-out. New urbanism was a new concept to many people in this area. Haile Village Center is a nice example of traditional neighborhood design for a village, but Brytan is larger and it to be designed as a town. The difference involves providing more of the daily needs within the town boundaries. The charrette opened with a presentation by Duany where he explained many of the concepts of new urbanism. He explained the importance of pulling the buildings up to the streets, of creating vistas at the end of the streets, of on-street parking to provide a barrier between the pedestrians on the sidewalk and the vehicles on the street. Traffic calming is an important element in creating a truly walkable community. It is interesting to note that people are in favor of slowing down the traffic in a general sense but they don’t like to be slowed down in their daily commute.

The individual meetings took place with discussions of building placement and the role of neighborhood parks. Other topics included architecture and the importance of having homes that have “eyes on the street”; so many homes are designed today where once a person enters the home, he has no connection to the neighborhood until he leaves the next day. Wide front porches and windows help create a connection that serves an important role in establishing community. However, once the connection is made to the neighborhood, you have to still find a way to protect the private realm for the homeowner. Elevating the house so that windows are not at eye-level help provide privacy from the street. Also, the role of interior courtyards helps promote an outdoor private realm that homeowners can enjoy without the hassles or expense of large yards. With the increasing importance of water conservation, smaller yards are an important asset to the home. People need to be able to enjoy the outdoors so the location of recreational elements was an important feature of the overall design of the community.

Opinions were shared and designs were modified. Each day, the design would be “posted” on boards that people could stop by, review and comment. We were surprised at the number of people that truly followed this process and took the time to try and understand why a building was faced in a particular way. The design of Brytan was to be open and inviting to its neighbors, not a fenced or walled off subdivision that is frequently built. It was interesting to see how some of the neighbors wanted to be able to visit Brytan and interact with the community but others wanted to have Brytan separated and completely unconnected from their land. Through the give-and-take of the charrette process, a compromise of sorts was reached. Brytan has been designed so that future connections could be established if those neighboring groups so decided.

After a week of intensive meetings and design work, two plans emerged from the charrette. Duany wanted to tweak both plans for a bit and then allow a determination as to which one best met the overall objectives.

Remember, at this time, the regulations of our County did not allow mixing uses vertically nor were TNDs encouraged.