The affordable housing initiative has been a slow but steady process for Peaks. Founded in 2004, HomeStart was established in order to preserve affordable housing opportunities for year round residents. The organization grew from a public planning process exercise called “Peaks Island Today and Tomorrow” two years earlier. Among the top concerns for residents that came out of the meeting was the growing need for affordable housing. The subcommittee developed into HomeStart and is in the final approval stages for three new modular homes to be built on Peaks.
Many of the housing problems in island communities are the lack of energy efficiency and general upkeep with older homes. “If you look at the housing on Peaks, by and large it’s gentrified housing stock that is below today’s standards,” says Ellen Mahoney, President of HomeStart.
In 2007, HomeStart was able to buy their first home on a 16,000 square foot lot. Rather than renovate just one home, they saw the potential in the large parcel. They decided to rezone the parcel back into three historic lots, each around 5,300 square feet. The rezone was approved on January 3 from the Portland Planning Board. Before they can start building, Peaks must receive funding from the Maine State Island Housing program. HomeStart is seeking a grant to cover expenses per house and to cover incurred expenses thus far from the 2010 Affordable Housing Initiative for Maine Islands.
Once all the approval stages have gone through, building and erecting the modular homes will be much quicker. Peaks Island will have two Peaks model’s going up first. Thompson Kaplan Architects, the designers behind the model, teamed up with modular builder Keiser Homes on the project. “The cool thing about modular homes is that they take three weeks per unit to construct and about six to eight weeks to be assembled on site,” says Mahoney. ModSource, based in Minot, will be the assembly team for erecting the homes.
The Peaks Island model is 1,200 square feet with three bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms. The super-insulated and airtight construction allows these homes to maintain high efficiency for heating and cooling. Other “green” elements include low VOC paints throughout and low-flow showerheads and faucets. The savings of running this model versus less efficient homes is huge. On average, an American home will spend $1,800 a year on heat – the Peaks Island model will cost around $650 for electric heat, no oil required.
“If you wanted to add solar power and additional renewable energy sources in the house, savings would be huge to the homeowner,” says Broadbent. “Being an affordable home it does add a bit of a cost, but the long term savings are there even without those.” Solar hot water and solar electrical systems will not be included in the models on Peaks due to budget limitations, but for homebuyers looking to own a more sustainable home at competitive prices, the option is out there.
The team at Thompson Kaplan also kept in mind design when creating the home. “We wanted to design something that alluded to the colonial history of the region” says Broadbent, “but we wanted the home to be unique too. The bones of this model fits a certain regional vernacular but we gave it a more unique character with details at the porch, with the shading devices at the south-facing windows, and with color, to name a few.”
These models are the first potentially net-zero models on the market. The definition of a net-zero home means it’s systems produce enough energy over a year to offset electric bills. Any extra power from solar panels can be fed back into the grid, which would result in net-zero energy consumption.
The Peaks Island model starts at $205,000, which is competitive in today’s housing market. The partnering with Kaiser lead Kaplan Thompson to develop two other new modular homes, named after other Casco Bay islands. The Chebeague model, a 960 square foot home with 2 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms, as well as the Great Diamond, the largest model at 1,680 square feet and 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms are attractive, net-zero options available for future homebuyers to purchase.
“These companies build these homes in a way that makes sense to not only the island community, but the environment and homeowners too,” says Mahoney. “They’ve raised the bar.”
“This is the first modular home we’ll be building for the affordable housing initiative,” says Broadbent, “and hopefully not the last. We hope the other islands will like what they see.”