APRIL 25, 2007
BRATTLEBORO, VT — The Book Press Business Park and Incubator owned by the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC) has proven to be a particularly fitting home for an organization that is intent on meeting high standards of efficiency and affordability for local housing.
The Brattleboro chapter of Habitat for Humanity is renting 3,800 square feet in the former Book Press building at a cost substantially subsidized by BDCC, enabling Habitat to afford expansive space for building a modular home in a safe and dry indoor facility before setting the nearly complete house on its foundation.
"BDCC has been very generous to offer us a five-year lease at their cost," says Andy Cay, president of the Brattleboro chapter of Habitat. "We did some renovations to the space, creating an office, tool room, and workshop, and still have space leftover to build a complete house in two halves."
The indoor facility also provides a safe environment for the many skilled -- and unskilled -- community volunteers who lend a hand to all aspects of building, including installing cabinets, laying down floors, painting, and trimming out the house. This year, Brattleboro Rotary Club members made a concerted effort to offer their volunteer services, "jumping in at a time when we needed people power," says Cay.
Rotarians will be on site on Thursday morning, April 26, to help raise the latest Habitat house at 45 Tudor Lane off Sherwood Circle in Brattleboro. The house will arrive on two trailer-trucks and be lifted off and set on the foundation beginning around 9 a.m. "It is 90 percent complete and just needs to be joined, sealed, tied in to the utility systems, and have the solar panels installed," says Cay.
The home will belong to Greg Frost and his family, who were selected from about 30 applicants to be Habitat's "partner family" for this particular house. The winning partner family must show credit worthiness and be committed to providing 250 hours per adult in the household to help with building the house. "Greg and his family have been enthusiastic and nonstop workers throughout this process," says Cay.
According to Cay, the Brattleboro Chapter of Habitat for Humanity was started in 1987 by Don Hayes and a group of Centre Congregational Church members. This week's house-raising brings the local count to seven houses. Although all of their houses are built to meet the requirements for Energy Star Standards, Habitat's intent is to start building what is known as "net zero energy" housing, or essentially a home that consumes only as much energy as it produces, thanks to new technologies and techniques.
"There aren't 20 homes built better than this one in Vermont," says Cay, speaking of the new Tudor Lane house. "A project like this one highlights how energy-saving technologies can be done for affordable housing," let alone for more expensive housing projects.
In addition to the Rotarians, many Entergy Vermont Yankee employees and other community members volunteered their time to help build the Habitat house. Other key participants in this community-wide effort included Cersosimo, which sold the land for the house at cost to the Vermont Land Trust; the Vermont Land Trust, which provided a 99-year lease for $25 a month to the homeowners; Merchants Bank, which donated funds to Habitat for the solar panels; and TD BankNorth, which donated funds for Habitat to build a workshop in their new space at BDCC's Book Press Business Park.
For more information, contact Andy Cay at 603-363-4888 or cayco@verizon.net or contact BDCC at 802-257-7731 or bdcc@sover.net.