Solar subdivision
Published: Thursday, July 26, 2007 at 3:40 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at 9:00 p.m.
When the time came for Kasey Capener to sell her Rincon Valley home and move into something less expensive and with a smaller yard, the 52-year-old nursery manager had no shortage of options.
As sales of new homes have stalled along with the rest of the market, Capener was in a position to be picky, so she chose a home with an environmentally friendly feature none of the others had -- solar panels.
"I really appreciate the opportunity to purchase a home that's going to make a difference," Capener said Wednesday at the grand opening of the first all-solar home development in Sonoma County. "If each one of us makes a different choice each day, things will shift."
Capener was the first person to buy a home in the new Bridge Trail subdivision under construction in northwest Santa Rosa.
Capener's four-bedroom, 1,600-square-foot home cost $510,000 and came equipped with a series of solar panels on its south-facing roof surfaces. The solar energy system is expected to help Capener slash her electric bills by 50 percent to 75 percent annually.
Bridge Trail developer Hugh Futrell is hoping that his $4 million investment in solar panels for every home in the 200-unit project will draw buyers like Capener to his subdivision in today's sluggish real estate market.
But the decision to make solar power a standard feature in the Bridge Trail development is more than good business, Futrell says. It's also the right thing to do.
"Not every decision that we make as individuals, or as an industry, or as a business will always be the right decision. But we know that this is the right decision, and we are proud of it," Futrell said. "We're very proud to be part of the future."
While Bridge Trail may be the first such project in Sonoma County, others won't be far behind, predicted Bill Kelly, general manager of SunPower Corp., the San Jose company installing the systems.
"I would put money on it, that other builders will follow this leadership," Kelly said.
The county's largest homebuilder, Christopherson Homes, has two projects with solar underway, one in Marin and another in Sacramento, for a total of about 60 homes.
The developer is exploring ways to integrate solar into a 138-home phase of its Ragle Ranch subdivision in southeast Santa Rosa, said Bob Rispoli, the company's director of purchasing.
"We're really making a push toward that direction," Rispoli said.
Futrell hadn't always planned to incorporate solar panels into the 30-acre development off Fulton Road, part of a larger tract annexed into the city in 2004.
The design of the homes and layout of the streets has been in the works for years. The decision to add solar was only made last fall, he said.
Finding a way to make the homes more attractive to buyers in a stagnant market was certainly a consideration behind the decision, but Futrell said he would have made the same choice even if buyers were abundant.
That's because solar panels have become so much more efficient and cost-effective, especially when rebates from the state are factored in, Futrell said. The systems cost about $20,000 each, and the developer receives state rebates between $5,000 and $8,000. In addition, homeowners can receive a $2,000 federal tax credit in the first year.
That puts the technology within the range many families can now afford, Futrell said.
"This isn't just a feature for the affluent. This project is designed to serve the mainstream members of our community, the backbone of our community, with sustainable technology," Futrell said.
The first phase of the project will have 43 detached homes on small lots, many of which look out over open space created around a wetland that for years made the area west of Jack London Elementary School difficult to develop.
About 13 are for sale and three have sold to date, said Stan Paule, marketing director of Santa Rosa-based Hugh Futrell Corp.
Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, praised Futrell for building feature-rich homes selling below the county's median home price, which was $605,000 in June. The homes in Bridge Trail are selling for between $491,000 and $528,000.
"Change really begins at home, and it's literally going to begin at home for you," Evans said at the opening ceremony, gesturing to Capener and her 18-year-old daughter, Alisha Meserve.
Santa Rosa Mayor Bob Blanchard also lauded Futrell for seeing the future and taking the risks required to make it a reality.
"It's a gamble, but I don't think it's a huge gamble," Blanchard said. "I think it is where we are headed."
Blanchard said he envisioned a day in the not-so distant future when all homes in California are built with solar panels and homeowners only need to tap into the electricity network for a small percentage of their peak needs.
An increasing number of developers are installing solar systems in their projects because of the demand in the market, Kelly said.
"It's clear customers in California want this choice in their homes," Kelly said.
You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com.
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