Galisteo Basin Goes Green
Elizabeth Day, courtesy Commonweal Conservance
Early rendering of Galisteo Basin Village development
Can more housing developments ever be a good thing? Commonweal Conservancy thinks so, but only if they’re done correctly. This five-year-old land-conservancy group is out to prove it with its flagship project, the Galisteo Basin Preserve, a 12,800-acre former cattle ranch south of Eldorado. The parcel was considered high risk for development, so instead of letting it get carved up for new McMansions, the Conservancy is acquiring the site, and at its center is building an ultra-eco-friendly community surrounded by 12,000 acres of open space.
“It’s a very ambitious undertaking,” says Ted Harrison, who spent 18 years at the Trust for Public Land and launched the conservancy after helping Santa Fe County purchase nearby acreage for preservation. “They threw down the gauntlet, to consider the much larger conservation for the Galisteo Basin,” he says. The project is being financed through a three-phase development in which bigger, off-the-grid home sites are helping finance a 300-acre high-density village (965 residences are planned; 30 percent are designated affordable). Included is a 50,000-square-foot charter school, with Earthworks Institute overseeing stewardship of the property as a whole. The project’s already been accepted into the U.S. Green Building Council’s pilot program for LEED neighborhoods. Look for the village’s lots to go on sale summer 2009. Info: commonwealconservancy.org, galisteobasinpreserve.com
