A new trend is happening all over the US. Found mostly in smaller towns from California to Vermont, pocket neighborhoods are springing up faster than bunnies multiplying.
Bob Provost of Carriage House Modular Homes LLC in Vermont recently began building one of these pocket neighborhoods and he is using modular homes from Pleasant Valley Modular in Pine Grove, PA as the best way to get them up quicker and for less money.
“A pocket neighborhood is different from a traditional neighborhood because there’s a function: The front porch has to be big enough so you can sit on it on a Sunday morning as your neighbor walks by,” said Bob Provost.
Provost’s pocket community has sprouted in the ruins of the Whalley Trailer Park, which was destroyed by flooding in late August 2011 by Tropical Storm Irene. The new homes are engineered to withstand a 100-year storm — one so severe, there’s only a 1 percent chance it will occur in any given year. Lattices on the two-story cottages disguise the egret-like elevation of the foundations, more than a foot above the 100-year flood level. That plan brought a substantial drop in flood insurance rates, Provost said.
Most of the pocket neighborhoods are groups of 12-30 homes and act like villages within towns. They share a lot of the same traits:
- They participate in common goals and practices
- They depend on each other
- They make decisions together
- They identify themselves as part of something larger than the sum of their individual relationships
- They commit themselves for the long term to their own well-being, to each other, and to the group
These type of neighborhoods started in Denmark and were introduced here in the ‘80’s but it took them a while to get a head steam.
Bob Provost has created this type of neighborhood in Waterbury, VT, the home of Ben & Jerry’s, and now Vermont’s legislators are talking to him about producing these pockets across the state.
By using modular construction, Bob has opened doors that many builders and factories could explore for new homes. Article credit to Modular Home Coach
