Tasman Eco Village attracts intl attention

Tasman Eco Village attracts international attention

Mention ‘development’ and you have the attention of every environmentalist in ear-shot. Such attention is not normally something developers relish. Not so this home-grown eco-village project in Motueka Valley within biking distance from the town.

An innovative eco-development is promising to break the “all development is bad” mould common to many environmentalists. A suit of resource management applications for this project, Atamai Village in the Motueka Valley, is currently in the public consultation process with Tasman District Council.

The application for the development has attracted a surprisingly large number of supporting applications from around the world. National and International environmental and energy sector related organisations and institutes from Paris, Amsterdam, San Francisco and Munich, to Hamilton (Canada), and Nelson, New Zealand, have expressed their strong interest in seeing this development proceed through the TDC resource management planning process.

Talk to the ‘developers’ and you will find they are not so surprised about this interest and support. An unusual combination of international and local experts in sustainable development, green building technology, land use, and permaculture, as well as local entrepreneurs and business people, have teamed up over the last two years to create an innovative design . They have come up with a ‘living arrangement’ that integrates the human and natural spheres to a degree rarely if ever achieved at this level of living standards. It offers an attractive example for how we can live not only without being a burden to the land, but also by making a positive contribution to the well being of nature and the community.

Jurgen Heissner, one of the members of the team suggests: “Maybe it’s the car free nature of the internal transport system, the timeless and old world charm of the house designs, the resource independence for energy, food and water that attracts so much interest. What we are fairly sure of is that nowhere in the world have so many green, sustainable and advanced but proven concepts been put together this way in one integrated package.”

“We have taken care to ensure every aspect of the changes we are making to the environment is a positive one for biodiversity, resilience and wildlife habitats, and see the Village as a real model of minimal impact that other developers could follow.“ Jurgen asserts.

Jurgen goes on to say, “the environmental community likes this project because they understand it is not development for the sake of development. The permaculture design, in which David Holmgren had a hand, actually restores and protects the resources of the site and enhances their natural productivity. Certain council and national rules associated with the RMA process didn’t make it easy to accomplish this, but we feel we have been true to sustainability principles throughout the process.”

Looking at the dramatic downturn cascading through the economies of the world the future for developers generally is not too bright. Asked how the downturn in building and property sales is affecting Atamai Village prospects Jurgen Heissner responds: “Do you know any jobless builders, joiners or machinery operators that want to live a green life? We will need them. Atamai is foremost a village, not a suburban development. Villages have their own internal economies and we fully expect most of the jobs in the village to provide livelihoods for the people living there. Residents not only get security for their families but will also find a good number of business opportunities for themselves in the village. And the overall village design should save each family money – passive solar homes will reduce heating and cooling costs, jointly owning the village energy system will also be a money saver, as will the car sharing and food production activities. Apart from that we already have more than 60 interested parties on our newsletter update list. So we are looking forward to get going with the next steps once the public consultation process with TDC is complete.”

ENDS

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