Sponsored Post – from the Elgin Agrarian Community
Something’s happening in Elgin, Texas these days. It’s a strange sensation you can’t quite put your finger on, but you feel it when you’re there strolling Main Street on a random Thursday with a cup of Texas brewed goodness at the monthly Sip, Shop and Stroll or doing yoga on Tuesday morning in a serene studio. You’ll discover that Elgin is not only one of the garden bowls of Texas and a place the old and new, historic and innovative are vibrantly co-mingling in this uniquely Texan town. It is also home to the soon-to-be-realized Elgin Agrarian Community.
What is EACo?
Elgin Agrarian Community is a new construction 23-acre, mixed use, sustainable, agrarian community located in Elgin, Texas, just a 30 minute drive east of Austin. The residential portion of the development features: 80 cottage-style, 1-3 bedroom homes; a large common house; two off-leash dog parks; large, open green spaces; hike and bike trails; and a community workshop. It is situated next to a neighborhood-supported working farm that provides residents with fresh, organic produce every week. The farm is managed by two full-time farmers who tend to 3 acres of field crops and a large aquaponics greenhouse.
Commercial components include: an indoor-outdoor events hall; salon and day spa; wellness center with workout facilities, class studios, and a pool; eleven short-term rental casitas; and a farm-to-glass microbrewery. Also on-site is the Mary Christian Burleson Foundation, a local non-profit offering education programs on preserving the history of strong Texas women. The site is located less than a mile from the historic Main Street district.
Elgin Agrarian Community Site Plan
The EACo concept was created with hundreds of stakeholders—many of whom are excited to move in soon!—and the plan demonstrates how we addressed the personal, environmental, economic, and social well-being of a diverse community for current and future generations. There are a million decisions and sacrifices to make when collaboratively creating a sustainable community, and while all of those decisions are worth discussing, time is running out to join the first phase of new home construction, and we wanted to share what future residents can expect from life at EACo and invite you to join us in this pioneering effort.
Elgin Agrarian Community Design Meeting, February 2016
The Homes
EACo houses will have many environmentally sustainable features, including solar panels, tankless water heaters, green appliances, rainwater catchment, and community-wide composting run by the farm—including the brewery where 100 percent of post-brew grains will be used for a range of mulching and composting needs of EACo farms and regional farmers. The homes are also built with smarter floor plans to utilize space more efficiently while still remaining adaptable to Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines for aging-in-place. The home lots are also placed in clusters around shared open spaces or community amenities which allows us to limit disruption to the existing natural landscape, and any new landscaping will incorporate natives & perennials across to preserve the natural beauty of the site, as well as reduce water demand and maintenance expenses. Lastly, electric and hybrid cars will have access to several charging stations around the site.
The Lifestyle
EACo will be a small pocket neighborhood co-housing development. We designed EACo this way to conserve space, allowing for more natural landscape than concrete development, and to keep the community compact which will help foster a front porch culture. Cohousing is a method of designing residential communities that intentionally exchange some space typically used for private or individual uses for a diverse set of higher quality, safe, inviting shared amenities.
The Common House is a prime example of such a space that we envision serving as the foundation for the social and community needs of our residents. This approximately 2500 sq ft facility is centrally located within the development and is much more than a “clubhouse.” It will offer a full sized kitchen and appliances, outdoor grilling area and large porch, a large living room area for meetups, coworking, coordinated education programs, babysitting, or hosting holiday and community events. In addition there will be several smaller private rooms for anything from study groups, to book clubs, and group meetings. It is also located next to the neighborhood’s bike storage, a set of larger storage lockers, and the neighborhood mailbox. At the front of the Common House is EACo’s largest green space, which is slightly larger than a regulation football field which will be left open and with limited built infrastructure to allow it to remain a flex space for active or passive recreation.
Healthy living opportunities are also a major focus of life at EACo. The prime example is the organic farm outside your doorstep. Imagine just strolling down the trail to the barn every Friday afternoon to pick up organic spinach, tomatoes and dozens of other seasonal varieties all year long. The farm is not just growing affordable organics for EACo, either, they will also grow enough to sell excess to local restaurants, grocers, and offer a CSA membership program and a farmers market. EACo residents will also enjoy special discounts to the nearby spa and wellness centers, which will also offer a plethora of other supplements to healthy living from facials to fitness, including – skin & hair treatments; mindfulness, meditation & yoga; functional fitness & mobility training; high intensity athletic training; dietitians to help with managing chronic disease or rehabilitation; and many many more. As mentioned, the other shared residential areas include two dog parks, walking and biking trails connected to the internal sidewalk network, and several other larger natural or green spaces.
Planning & Regional Growth
Central Texas is growing at a pace that many communities and neighborhoods are struggling to navigate without thinking long term about development patterns, transportation, and individual quality of life. We have found a way to preserve productive farm as part of the development pattern by offering it as both an amenity and an economic asset. EACo’s proximity to downtown and neighborhood commercial businesses encourages walking to create easy access to a range of needs for our buyers and the surrounding community. While many in Elgin do and will continue to commute to work or other activities, Elgin is already part the regional transit network and will one day be a stop on Metro’s forthcoming Green Line commuter rail extension. We hope for EACo, and other agrarian communities like it across the world, to demonstrate to more developers that there are smarter alternatives to traditional, often unsustainable, greenfield development.
