The Grasse Road building project, a housing initiative introduced by the College in the early 1980s in an attempt to better meet the housing needs of the faculty, has now reached the permit application stage of the process.
Located 2 miles east of campus ground, the Grasse Road building project currently consists of 32 finished homes on the 160 acre plot owned by the College.
Pending permit approval from the zoning board of adjustment of Hanover and from the state of New Hampshire, 23 new single-family homes will be constructed as part of phase two the following spring. Eventually, the College plans on building a total of 117 homes, according to Jim Kennedy, the landscape architect.
The goal of this project is to provide more affordable housing for tenured or tenure-track faculty and AP-I employees. John Caulo, assistant director of College real estate, said he estimates that the average sales price for a house in Hanover was approximately $350,000 in 1998. In comparison, the projected prices for the houses along Grasse Road range from $170,000 to $230,000, he said.
"In order to continue attract high-quality faculty and staff, the college recognized the obligation, even in a modest way, to provide more affordable housing than is currently available," Caulo said.
The prohibitive pricing of houses in Hanover has forced many of the faculty to live elsewhere. In an interview last year with The Dartmouth, History professor Peggy Darrow said she lives in Vershire, Vt., an inconvenient 26 miles away from Hanover.
Professors with children of school age are especially anxious to live in Hanover which has the best school districts in the Upper Valley.
Before any more land is developed however, the College will need permits since the housing project will encroach upon wetlands. The Conservation Committee is concerned that the project will set an environmentally unsound precedent.
In defense, Kennedy said that the plan directly impacts only 7700 square feet. Additionally, building envelopes, which restrict the sites open to construction, and buffer zones have been established to further protect the wetlands.
"What we're trying to do is to design a neighborhood that provides as many positive benefits for the faculty in a manner that minimizes the negative impact on the environment," Caulo said.
Nonetheless, the college has had to scale back, reducing the number of houses planned and halving the sizes of the lots, which originally were an acre each. These changes are a part of the newly adopted classic cluster village design which, Kennedy and Caulo said will also promote "a strong sense of community."
"What we're trying to do is to design a neighborhood that provides as many positive benefits for the faculty in a manner that minimizes the negative impact on the environment," Caulo said.
Boston architect William Rown is designing the new houses, modeling them after the traditional New England farmhouse. His designs have been featured in the Architectural Record, Progressive Architecture, and House Beautiful.
