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Acclaimed Conservation Development, Inspiration - A Natural Neighborhood, Opens Home Sales in Bayport, Minnesota

Posted on: Monday, 6 February 2006, 18:00 CST

BAYPORT, Minn., Feb. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Inspiration -- A Natural Neighborhood in Bayport, Minnesota, has opened home sales on the innovative 245-acre conservation development. Inspiration opened its first model home in late January and is opening three additional model homes in February to coincide with the Twin Cities Parade of Homes.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060206/CGM051 )

Even as homes are beginning to dot the landscape, the founder of Inspiration, Contractor Property Developers Company (CPDC), is restoring 70% of the property to native Midwestern prairie, wetland, oak savanna and woodland, which will be protected in-perpetuity as a nature preserve for the public.

Only 30% of the site is reserved for the construction of homes and roads, and just 254 rooftops will be built in this natural neighborhood. Of these 253 will be single-family homes and one will be a senior condominium cooperative.

Ecologists designed Inspiration as a model of environmentally enlightened development. Applied Ecological Services (AES), a national leader in ecological consulting, designed the land plan for Inspiration after conducting an extensive natural resource inventory of the site and surrounding lands, and after studying the existing scientific data and history of ecological resources in the area.

As a result of this research, AES created an Ecological Restoration and Management Program, integrated with a unique alternative stormwater management plan. This 90-page plan calls for almost 170 acres, or 70% of the property, to be preserved as open green space. It also prescribes the restoration of eight distinct ecological communities ranging from wetlands to prairie to woodlands.

CPDC will invest nearly $2 million in the restoration and management of natural ecological communities over the next five years. These plant communities will provide wildlife habitat for hundreds of species of local and migratory birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles and beneficial insects, and will help reconnect the web of life with the adjacent St. Croix Bluffs Scientific and Natural Area (SNA). The St. Croix Bluffs SNA is a high-quality, regionally significant eco-habitat owned and managed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

The land management plan calls for protection of two Native American burial grounds identified on the property by archeologists. These areas will be left undisturbed and protected by a natural buffer more than 100 feet wide to be restored to native tallgrass prairie.

Onsite naturalist Andy Dahl is planning a continuing program of environmental education to help people understand and appreciate the ecological restoration that is being created and privately funded for public use.

Residents of Inspiration as well as the public will enjoy passive recreation, hiking, cross-country skiing and bird watching on more than two miles of trails within the natural areas of Inspiration. These trails connect to trails into the St. Croix Bluffs SNA to the south, and to a community park to the north. A regional snowmobile trail borders the Inspiration property on the north end.

Restoration Program is Underway

In 2005, CPDC funded the restoration of 39 acres of tallgrass prairie and four acres of wetland, which was seeded by crews from Applied Ecological Services. This winter, AES crews are removing European buckthorn and other invasive shrubs from the remnant oak savanna and woodlands on the property. Ecologists will monitor the natural vegetation response in the spring to determine whether additional native seed is needed to enhance the vegetation response.

In the next two years, CPDC will restore 90 acres of prairie, 47 acres of an oak savanna/prairie mosaic and 19 acres of oak woodland. Six acres of existing and created wetlands will be planted and seeded, and native vegetation will be established in the wetland biofilters and raingardens that comprise the Stormwater Treatment Train(TM).

Following the active restoration phase, AES will implement a five-year management and monitoring plan that will ensure the proper establishment of native plant communities and the optimal wildlife habitat for the created and restored ecosystems.

Stormwater Treatment Train(TM) Protects Water Quality

An essential element of the ecological design of the property is the Stormwater Treatment Train(TM) that uses a network of stormwater swales to direct runoff from yards, rooftops and driveways into and through the prairies and wetlands.

This alternative stormwater system reduces the volume of runoff due to infiltration in the native plant communities, and it cleanses the runoff that does occur in order to improve water quality both on-site and in downstream water resources. In fact, the stormwater system has already reduced the volume and improved the quality of runoff from the pre-development conditions of the agricultural land.

This is important because the property is perched on the upper terrace of the St. Croix River floodplain. If runoff were piped downstream in a conventional storm sewer system, it would flow directly to the river -- a federally designated Wild and Scenic River. With it would flow all the excess lawn fertilizer chemicals, herbicides, pesticides, sediment, oils, grease and heavy metals from automobile combustion and operation.

The Stormwater Treatment Train(TM) manages rainwater close to where it falls, and directs it through surface swales into a series of 15 interconnected wetland biofilter and rain garden detention areas. This allows stormwater to soak into the ground most effectively, it helps remove chemicals biologically, and it traps sediments and particulates, thus reducing pollution that could otherwise reach the river.

Inspiration Follows TND Principles, Requires Energy Star Certification

The housing element of Inspiration follows the principles of Traditional Neighborhood Design (TND) with inviting front porches, recessed garages, historic architectural styling and architectural controls on the detailing of exterior trim, fascia, window design, siding, colors and landscaping.

The neighborhood itself has been accepted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as an Energy Star Partner, and every home will be Energy Star certified. Energy-efficient Andersen windows and doors are required of every home, as are James Hardie cement-fibre exterior siding products.

Traditional homesites, ranging in size from 9,600 to 14,700 square feet, offer adjacent access and views of the expansive restoration areas. Village home sites are clustered around three village greens. These homesites average in size from 6,500 to 7,500 square feet, and feature alley-loaded rear garages.

Inspiration Serves as National Model for Conservation Development

As an active advocate of conservation development, the non-profit Minnesota Land Trust holds the conservation easement on the open lands at Inspiration, guaranteeing that the restored natural areas will be protected in-perpetuity. The long-term ecological management of the land will be guaranteed by homeowner association bylaws, which provides for on-going annual management funding from Inspiration residents.

The conservation development plan has been presented at several national seminar events in 2005, and was recently featured in an article entitled "Ecological Design Garners Regulatory and Community Support" published in Land Development Today magazine. It is due to be published in March in the British journal Sustain' which focuses on sustainable development practices.

The project was also featured by the Minnesota Land Trust in its August 2005 issue of News and Views, in an article entitled "Inspiration: New homes and restored prairie ... Bayport's new development balances growth with conservation."

For more information, contact Andy Dahl at 651-556-4572 or visit http://www.inspirationbayport.com/ .

Stormwater Treatment Train(TM) is a trademark of Applied Ecological Services, Inc.

Graphics are available upon request.

First Call Analyst: FCMN Contact:

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060206/CGM051AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN18PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

Inspiration -- A Natural Neighborhood

CONTACT: Jack Broughton, Director of Marketing, Contractor PropertyDevelopers Co. for Inspiration -- A Natural Neighborhood, +1-651-556-4573

Web site: http://www.inspirationbayport.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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