Piles of snow, sand and leaves lined the quiet residential street in Wyandanch. A handful of cars idled nearby with their occupants hidden behind fogged windshields and a layer of slush. The only break in the silence was the occasional lurch of a massive snow plow clearing a section of a non-descript vacant lot. Three men are gathered closely together on a patch of blacktop, presumably the remnants of a driveway—the only remaining evidence of the home that once stood at 54 North 15th Street. The topic of conversation was whether or not to move a neighbor’s stalled van from the lot before a news conference Tuesday to announce an initiative to revitalize the property.
There is nothing remarkable about a foreclosed piece of property in an economically challenged neighborhood. In the scheme of things it certainly seems an unlikely spot for officials to gather to make an announcement; abandoned properties are nothing to crow about. But for the people who emerged from their cars and trudged toward the site, this may very well be Long Island’s Alamo.
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Officials from the Town of Babylon, United Way of Long Island (UWLI), the Long Island chapter of the US Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) announced they are co-sponsoring a national design competition as a part of their mission to build the most sustainable and affordable home possible on this site. The leaders of this unlikely alliance have determined this section, block and lot to be the place where both green and affordable housing will be redefined.
In what they are referring to as “Attainable L.I. – Where Affordable Meets Sustainable,” these groups have effectively eschewed the large-scale projects that have been hamstrung by financial hurdles and political red tape in favor of a smaller suburban model that is replicable throughout Long Island. Babylon Town Supervisor Steve Bellone hopes one result of this collaboration is to bring “green into the mainstream.”
Bellone is no stranger to the green housing movement. The Long Island Green Homes Program, devised by Bellone and his staff a few years ago, won accolades from the USGBC and other municipalities nationwide for establishing a startlingly simple mechanism whereby homeowners can make energy efficient improvements without incurring debt.
Vince Capogna, executive director of USGBC-LI, said it is important housing is “affordable to build and maintain.” Capogna also highlighted the importance of affordability as well as “respecting the health of the occupants and the shared natural resources of our Island.”
What’s notable about this collaboration is the willingness among large organizations to play small-ball and birth a project that may produce a large ripple effect if only from a single pebble. This strategy stands in stark contrast to the massive proposed affordable housing developments in recent years that have been met with harsh opposition or disappeared from the planning landscape entirely.
Flanked by UWLI Youth Build program members Darryl Troutman, Latanya Mowatt, Curtis Thompson, UWLI President and CEO Theresa Regnante hailed LI’s “can do spirit” adding “it can be done.”
Youth Build program members will be providing much of the labor for the project that, according to Regnante, began with an idea from Rick Wertheim, an executive at UWLI. Babylon Town and the USGBC-LI immediately embraced the idea of an architecture competition and the idea spread quickly from there.
“Energy efficient and affordable home ownership is no longer a luxury” says Michael Deering, LIPA’s vice president of Environmental Affairs. “It’s a necessity.”
LIPA has committed funding to the program as well as guidance in terms of energy efficiency. According to Deering, the competition represents the “evolution in the development of homes.”
Since green-building initiatives have gained public support in recent years, some contractors, homeowners and building owners have been loath to make improvements to existing structures or build entirely “green” because it is cost prohibitive. Bellone was quick to acknowledge the prevailing sentiment that “green means high costs.”
“We intend to show, right here in Wyandanch, that you can build green and affordable,” he said.
For his part, Capogna believes the beauty in opening this competition to the public is that all submissions will be “free and open source.” Essentially, all architectural plans and final entries will be released to the public, even those that aren’t chosen as the final plan for the model house in Wyandanch.
Information about the competition can be found on the website www.attainableli.com and submissions will be accepted through a customized portal on www.openarchitecturenetwork.org, an open source online community “dedicated to improving living conditions through innovative and sustainable design.” The winning professional design will be awarded $10,000 from Attainable L.I.
