LandChoices: Opportunities for Landowners to Preserve Their Land

Land Choices: Changing Development in America

Save Money, The Bottom Line

Conservation subdivision design is cost-effecitve and saves on road and infrastructure, land clearing and grading costs, while at the same time providing homeowners with walking trails through nature and a view from their home of natural areas-features they value. You can take this value into consideration when calculating the sales price.

Are you a landowner looking to develop your land? Clearing land for development is extremely expensive. Even if your property has relatively few trees, grading costs can be extraordinary. Conservation subdivision design can reduce your costs. It has been proven over and over again (see two examples at right).

Save $$$
- By respecting natural terrain and designing around existing site features on an 80-lot development in Texas, Randall Arendt (see Advisory Group listing) cut grading costs by 83%, from $300,000 to $50,000, compared with a conventionally engineered plan.

- One of Mr. Arendt's recent designs is credited by an Indiana developer as having added at least $20,000 of value to each of his 40-lots ($800,000 total value added), while still providing for full development density.