Basketville Project
9/14/06

USES
• Housing
o Principally rental
o Accommodate parking in creative manner (protect well head)
o Mix of rental and ownership
o First time homes
o Make sure houses have some screened in areas (low land, mosquito issues are becoming serious)

o Mixed generational, young couples, single people, up to big enough for large families
o Housing should be available to mixed income
o All first floor housing should be ADA convertible
o Not one big unit – make the housing compatible with the rest of the village – have variety of sizes, configurations, etc
• Artist’s studios – with or without housing
• Whatever the mix, it needs to be housing plus – not just housing
• Business incubator space
• Farmers market type businesses
• Community compost
• Mushroom house
• Bio-fuel production
• Health club
• Public dance space
• Large community space
• Light Industrial/Commercial/Retail – provide jobs so people wouldn’t have to commute to work
• Community gardens
• Accessible green space
• Pathway (greenway) connecting school forest to village
• Bike path
• Yards, play space – some individual to homes, some common
• Greenhouses
• Sustainability incubator
• Hydro power
• Public skating area – wetlands pond
• Medical services




GENERAL ISSUES/CONCERNS
• Perhaps this should better be used for commercial/retail and we could save some of our historic village homes for housing rather than converting them to commercial/retail
• Overriding concern should be to start from green design/environmental friendly architecture (more than energy efficient but also healthy materials, etc). Configure buildings, site, uses based on this – make this cutting edge – a model
• Would be good if storage of heating oil could be off site
• Could be a step for a new vision for Putney – not a bedroom community to Bratt but a place where one could live, work, get services, spiritual life, etc
• Are we building this for people who are already here who want to live and work here or is this to attract new people? If drawing new people, how about jobs, or will they bring their own work?
• People who currently live in houses that have grown too big and hard to maintain might be attracted to move here and it would then free up some housing for others
• Work force housing is always an issue – how to provide housing where the jobs are so that there can be less commuting
• Do we have any information on whether or not making affordable housing available has any impact on other housing in the community – i.e. possibly making it also more affordable by reducing the demand
• Does providing affordable housing encourage jobs? Perhaps, since the opposite is true – employers are reluctant to locate where there is a lack of housing
• Need to be careful that we don’t try to be everything to everybody in this one project
• Is there a way to make it available to Putney people – people with ties to Putney – first?
• There is currently no town center, this could become the defining center of town that will identify Putney
• The mix of uses could be designed to become a focal point for drawing together environmental conservationists – businesses, etc
• What are the real costs of the project? Keep in mind the fiscal impact on the town services – fire, schools, roads. This may help when weighing the mix of uses.
• The ultimate ownership of the wetlands parcel may well become another public entity.