ECIA Receives Grant to Plan for a Pocket Neighborhood

Dubuque, IA, August 18, 2017:  The East Central Development Corporation (ECDC) recently received a $10,000 Iowa Area Development Group Community Foundation, Partners in Progress! grant for site plan costs for a proposed pocket neighborhood in Cascade or Maquoketa. The proposed pocket neighborhood is a pilot project and this funding is critical in order to develop a feasible plan that meets the goals of the project. If successfully implemented in either community, this sustainable pocket neighborhood design would be replicated in other communities.  

The pocket neighborhood concept features clusters of homes gathered around a landscaped common area with recreational amenities– not a neighborhood of several hundred houses, but a realm of a dozen or more homes, in a safe environment, where neighbors live in a community setting and interact on a daily basis with a shared common outdoor space.  The community incorporates into the design wind, solar and geothermal technologies.  The homes will be designed to foster community relationships with front porches, raised outdoor garden beds, central common community room, and picnic and outdoor grilling area. Homes will be designed to reduce runoff with rain catchment, native landscaping and permeable pavers; energy efficient appliances and other features will keep costs low for residents; and common gardens and community space to encourage neighbor interaction. 

Kelley Deutmeyer, Executive Director of the ECDC and East Central Intergovernmental Association (ECIA), the operating agency of ECDC, said, “A housing needs assessment completed in 2015 indicated that 300 new homes are needed in Jackson County by the year 2030.  The homes proposed in this project will be quality single-family story and a half homes, bungalow style, incorporating sustainable building practices at an affordable price point.” 

For more information, call Kelley Deutmeyer, Executive Director at 563-690-5700 or email her at kdeutmeyer@ecia.org.