Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Cohousing Walkways/Pathways - Request for Information

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Jun 29, 2022, at 8:44 AM, Joel Bartlett <altairecovillage [at] gmail.com> 
> wrote:

> Pervious paving requires maintenance - yearly vacuuming for leaves, pollen,
> dirt, etc.  There are at least NINE different kinds of pervious paving, and
> there are wonderful solutions for HEATED walkways - both hydronic and
> electric.

I went to a pervious paver workshop a number of years ago and was surprised to 
find it stuffed with very dynamic developer types and numbers people. The tense 
excitement in the room was palpable. They were calculating the long term costs 
given the increasing number of charges for impervious surfaces imposed by 
cities and the tax abatements and lower permitting fees for pervious surfaces.

While pervious pavers are expensive and most do require maintenance of some 
kind, the economic benefits are complicated and to most of us invisible. One 
number the developers were calculating is how much they could save by not being 
required to install storm sewers. They would avoid sewer taxes as well as the 
taxes for impervious surfaces. The numbers for that were very complicated 
involving rain, acres, building footprints, number of people, days of summer, 
etc.

I may have gotten some of those details contorted — it has been several years — 
but the message for new construction in particular is that it is a complex 
topic. Just looking at the installation costs for the pavers themselves doesn’t 
give you the whole picture.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org