Archive for the 'Building' Category

I have previously recommended Northern Woodlands magazine as an excellent resource for information relative to proper land stewardship. Developed by a land owner who did many naive mistakes with his land, it is consistently a very valuable tool for the landowner.  Not only to learn about proper stewardship, but to stay current with relative conservation issues.

The latest offering from Northern Woodlands is a wonderful compilation of articles entitled “A Place You Call Home: A Guide to Caring for Your Land in Vermont” . The title pretty well sums it up.

Now here comes the good part, by going to their website, you will note on the left sidebar an ad for the publication. By clicking on it, you can sign up for a free copy to be sent to you. Hard to pass that up. Well worth doing, and I’m sure that by the time you finish perusing “A Place You Call Home” you will be signing for a subscription to Northern Woodlands. You’ll be glad you did and your land will also thank you.

Posted by Wade I. Treadway

Conservation easements are often quite misunderstood. They are simply an instrument by which a landowner can protect their land from future development into perpetuity. Conservation easements are unique to each and every land parcel that gets conserved. They can contol not only future development but limit and control the uses of the land as well. First and foremost, their major benefit is to protect and continue proper stewardship of the land. However, there are distinct advantages from a tax standpoint to conserving land. To better understand the basics, I would recommend visiting The Nature Conservancy website. As a national organization. The Nature Conservancy is perhaps the most widely recognized and known advocate of conservation easements. However, as an individual becomes more educated into the specifics of conservation easements, they will most likely find many local organizations as well. Here in Vermont one of the oldest and largest overseer of conservation easements is the Vermont Land Trust. They not only oversee and enforcement the easements, they are instrumental in educating and guiding landowners through the legalities and benefits, and the writing of the binding agreement. Many regions and communities also have their own more localized land trusts. The Upper Valley Land Trust and Richmond Land Trust are just a couple of examples.

In the simplest form, a conservation easement strips away the ability to develop the land parcel. This in theory, drops the value of a property. By having two appraisals done, one with no restrictions and one with the development rights removed gives the differential by which an individual can gain tax credits. This is dictated by Federal Tax guidelines. Now I said in theory, it drops the price. In most cases and certainly in most areas of the country, this holds true. However, practice has demonstrated here in Vermont that a property that has a conservation easement on it, hence no ability to develop it beyond its current use, does not necessarily mean that the market price of the parcel is lowered. Indeed several of the record sales of the last decade in Vermont for private residences have been properties with conservation easements on them. The reason is that typically buyers of Vermont property are more concerned with the preservation of the land than selling off parcels for development. Of course each property is unique to itself and every conservation easement is equally unique, but in general, having a conservation easement on a property in Vermont does not necessarily mean that it’s fair market value is less or that it will be detrimental to the marketing of the property.

Conservation easements have protected millions of acres of private land throughout the country, and are one of the more successful means of preserving open space and wildlife habitat. I strongly recommend visiting the above referenced sites to better understand this important component of stewardship of our lands.

Posted by Wade I. Treadway 

Without question one of the words which is already getting grossly overused and severely abused is green. Green as in building, green as in automobiles, green as in industrial development. It is clearly a word that all businesses want to tie their products and their image to. It demonstrates an attunement to what is happening globally and the responsibility of all of us to become better stewards of our environment. However, it doesn’t take too much exposure to mainstream media whether print, television or internet to see a gross misuse of what should be our mantra for the future.

Building green has become symbolic of an industry that uses green as a marketing tool to push highly manufactured materials that are very costly in terms of the environment to create and to use. Fortunately there are many professionals and concerned environmentalists that are using various methods  to bring this trend into a rational set of criteria. Foremeost is the establishment of LEED Certification. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Architects and products can achieve a certification of LEED that identifies them as truly being green. On a national scale this is great stuff and urgently needed. Here in Vermont we have the Vermont Green Building Network, which is a strong network of suppliers, designers and practitioners. We also have in Vermont perhaps the most readily available sources of natural building products of any state. Everything from building stone, to structural wood, to slate and cedar shingle roofing, to finish wood and to mill shops and skilled woodworkers that can fabricate windows, doors, cabinets, and furniture. All without having to leave the State of Vermont, and  all with keeping our local economies alive, by keeping money spent here.

One of the bad raps a local material has always had is slate roofing. Ask anyone and you will hear that it is cost prohibitive.  Just a couple of years ago, I was restoring a small cape in South Woodstock Village. I had called for a cedar shingle roof. However, as I priced out cedar shingles I also priced out slate. To my surprise, locally produced slate was very much on par with cedar, and even standing seam steel roofing. The simple reason is less demand has kept the price relatively stable. Also costs associated to quarrying the slate and to truck it short distances has helped to keep the price down. Compare that to the escalated price of steel roofing. I was supplied by Greenstone Slate Co and found them to be cost competitive and we ended up with as green a roof as can be had. Other sources can be located through the National Slate Association.

Building green in Vermont can be hughly rewarding. Not only will you end up with a superior building, but you will come to know and understand the true meaning of leaving in Vermont through association with local industry and individuals.

Posted by Wade I. Treadway