The first of what will be eight houses built in a 10-acre subdivision in Waitsfield is under construction. The subdivision is accessed from Route 100 via Folsom Brook Road which the project shares with River House Condominiums.
The Waitsfield Ten is a subdivision developed by Mac and Bobbi Rood, Waitsfield. The town of Waitsfield permitted it last February. Mac Rood said that all of the eight lots are already spoken for. The lots are selling for the cost of the infrastructure plus the land, $82,000. That includes shared wells and a community wastewater system.
The house that is currently under construction is a 1,200-square-foot, two-story, two-bedroom house on helical piers that are corkscrewed 6 feet into the ground. Rood said that the estimated cost of the house would be $200,000. A full semester class at Yestermorrow has undertaken construction of the house.
The lot sizes in the subdivision are small, 0.2 to 0.7 and there is a large open lot for community gardens and other shared activities. Per the terms of the permit just over 6 of the 10 acres in the parcel will remain open which allowed the Roods to obtain a density bonus in terms of how many lots could be created.
Rood said the homes can be no larger than 2,000 square feet and that there will be deed restrictions regarding short-term rentals as well as terms that ensure that the homes will remain affordable if they are sold.
Four of the lots must be sold to people earning 80% or less of the Washington County average median income and four can be sold to people earning up to 120% (or less) of the average median income for Washington County. Median income in Washington County per the 2020 census was $64,862.
“There are several guidelines people have to meet. A decent design is required, energy efficiency is required as well as sustainability and affordability,” he said.
For the house that is under construction, a lot of the lumber for construction was milled from trees cleared from the site. The owners of the house are doing a lot of the work themselves and have been collecting things like appliances and sinks from people getting rid of those things.
The house that is underway is being built with double-wall construction filled with cellulose. The walls are a foot thick and the roof and floors are 16-inches thick. The home will be heated via a heat pump. The walls will be R40 and roof and floors will be R60 in terms of energy efficiency.
“It will be pretty energy efficient,” Rood said.
Rood said that at least three houses will get under construction in the spring. He said that several lots were purchased by people associated with the Yestermorrow Design Build School and that the purchasers were mostly young with one teacher a bit older.
As part of the project, the Roods will donate a permanent easement to the Mad River Path, beginning at Route 100 and ending on the northern property line.
