Our Neighborhood: Wasatch Commons

The units are clustered on either side of a snaking walkway that we call the central path. Parking is on the perimeter, one lot at either end of the walkway. We have extensive shared facilities.

The Common House

• kitchen
• pass-thru to dining room
• commercial range with hood
• wall ovens
• commercial Hobart dishwasher, 90-second cycle
• prep and dish sinks
• pantry
• dining room
• folding tables and stacking chairs allow flexible use of room
  • seating for forty
  • clear space for dances, etc.
• sitting room
• gas fireplace
• laundry
• 2 commercial frontloading washers
• 2 gas dryers
• clotheslines just outside
• kids room and teen room
• mailroom
• half bath
• upstairs guest room with en-suite 1-3/4 bath
• ground-floor guest room next to handicap-accessible 1-3/4 bath (grab bars and roll-in shower)
• crafts room, with sewing machines
• future messy-crafts room, with sink and roll-up door for equipment

The Workshop

• woodworking area
• car repair bay
• exercise room

4-1/2 acres of grounds

• assigned carports
• open 2nd-vehicle and guest parking
• garden with raised beds
• orchard
• play areas
• fort and swings
• climbing dome
• small lawn
• playing field (unirrigated)
• small sledding hill
• green space with native or nonnative-but-endemic vegetation, providing habitat for some small wildlife
• under a year-round flyway for 'commuter' fowl between feeding & nesting areas

(link to c.h. floor plan, site plan, google maps aerial view)

Accessibility

• First floors of common house and workshop have ground-level entries
• Common house doors have lever handles

Environmentally Friendly Features

Common Facility Design and Construction

• Passive solar
  • engineered overhangs
  • slab-on-grade heat sink
  • maximized glazing on south-facing windows
  • cross-ventilation
• Clerestory windows provide natural lighting
• Double-paned low-E casement or awning windows
• Natural stucco
• Pale wall and roof colors for sun/heat reflection
• Reclaimed wood from the Lucin Cutoff Railroad Trestle across the Great Salt Lake, used for beams on porch and in common house dining room
• Climate-appropriate evaporative cooling
• Gas appliances, front-loading washers, low-flush toilets
• Purchase of wind power blocks for community facilities
• Bay for car repairs, build and/or repair projects reduces need for individual garages

Grounds Design and Construction

• Clustered development and parking areas in order to preserve green space and to mitigate urban heat by minimizing hardscape
• Preservation of existing shade trees on site
• On-site collection of storm water allowing for groundwater recharge
• Chemical, light and noise pollution control: no CCA-treated lumber,
• Downward-directed hooded lampposts to reduce light pollution
• Use of recycled, scrap and waste materials in playground structures, storage units, garden beds, landscaping, mulch and soil amendments, grassy pavers, etc.
• Climate-appropriate landscaping: xeriscaping, drip irrigation; grass used only where a traffic-tolerant groundcover is required
• Grassy pavers to reduce heat gain on required drivable emergency access
• Floodlight motion sensors
• Recycling included in waste pickup
• Community vegetable and herb gardens and orchard
• Glass recycle center
• Outdoor clothes line

Our Homes

The Greater Neighborhood

2010, 4/9/2018

formatting 5/29/2019