The ball is rolling

So my wife and I are designing and building our own green home. It's natural really, for a designer (me) and a color guru (my wife) to want a home that we designed. About a year or so ago we began talking about a lot that a friend of ours, Andrew Saldino, was going to be developing into a neighborhood of small green homes. The lot we chose has great southern exposure, a view of the mountains, and is within walking and biking distance of grocery stores, the greenman office, and most importantly if you live in Boone; the Boone Saloon.
The development, named Weekapaug Grove, an American Indian word meaning edge of water (and a play on words from one of Andrew's favorite songs). Is 3.2 acres, of which 1.2 acres have been set aside as a common area for gardens, a small greenhouse and shelter, and protection of a small stream that flows along the western edge of the land.
Today marks several milestones for the project, the first is that the civil engineer, Jerry Muldowny, of the Dynan Group has finished the preliminary site plan drawings and stormwater management plans. We now await just the final approval from the town of Boone Development services dept in order to move forward.
The other milestone is that I have turned in the loan application to the bank and should know by Friday if we have money to build. My banker is even willing to work with a local appraiser who knows and values green (not an easy thing to find).
About two weeks ago I hired Robert Camphor of BobKat home services to clear the brush from the lot so we could see exactly what it looked like. It's so much easier to talk with graders when they can see the grade and not fight brambles.So with the brush cleared and some initial thoughts about what Heidi and I want in a home we are off and designing. I'll share the initial design and some thoughts about the process in my next blog.