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Couple proposes dream development in Pioneertown
By Mark Wheeler / Hi-Desert Star
YUCCA VALLEY - With all the housing development now making its appearance in the Morongo Basin and in Yucca Valley especially, there has been a growing voice of concern heard in the public forum for just how much volume-housing can be introduced into the local environment before the natural landscape is disfigured beyond recognition, and before infrastructure carrying capacity is irretrievably exceeded. Jim and Dana Melton of Yucca Valley have sung with this chorus of concern for some time, but due to circumstances of opportunity in their case, they have undertaken to develop a project they hope will set an example for housing which satisfies more than just short-term lodging-for-profits interests.
Currently at the tract map review level, the Meltons' project involves 320 acres in the Rimrock area. Zoned RL5 by the county, the land could legally support 64 units at one house per five acres. What the Meltons want, however, is a collection of homes which are fully integrated into the landscape and uphold the highest of energy and water conservation standards.
"I don't know how many homes will eventually be built," Jim admitted in an interview, but he was certain, "The total number will be far less than zoning will allow."
"This is a dream we're building," Dana added, clarifying that the inspiration for the project derives more from an appreciation for "sustainable living with the environment," than it does from market opportunities or profit motives.
The Melton housing dream consists first and foremost in a conviction that the native landscape upon which our houses are built is the primary design element determining all further progress of construction. Of equal importance in their dream is a home design's faculty for operational efficiency and conservation.
Such requirements will need sanction, and their dream also, therefore, consists in a constitution of covenants, conditions and restrictions they trust will implement the complete spirit of their highest ideals.
Not that they are building a Meltonville utopia; not by any means. On the contrary, they are simply risking a sizable portion of their estate to provide interested parties with a place to observe practical and common-sense principles in the manufacture and daily-life operation of their own homes.
Cost-effective housing. Formed earth construction. Natural air conditioning. Graywater systems. Solar power. Minimum accessibility impacts. Maximum preservation of native plants and landscape contours.
These are just some of the characteristics the Meltons believe their community of homes can exhibit, and in pursuit of this aim, they have secured the expertise of Gage Davis, a land planner of notable distinction whose long career has produced many projects earning praise for their environmental sensitivity.
Calling their project "The Sanctuary," the Meltons, and their partners Chuck and Gayle Hodges from Palm Springs, do not plan on building the individual homes that will eventually occupy their land. Instead, buyers will supply their own architects, and building will merely proceed in accord with the covenants, conditions and restrictions.
"We're not in the development business," Jim stressed. "We are, rather, in the idea business."
He added for further emphasis that he and his partners fully intend for The Sanctuary to serve as a prototype for building practices in the future. Although the homes built there may trend toward the more expensive, depending on the tastes of the individual residents, the Meltons assured that expense and opulence isn't the object.
"If our project is successful," they said, "it won't be because the homes are extravagant, but because their low-impact design and the technology they employ makes them both cost effective and elegant."
No stranger to the future, Jim is a guest speaker and author specializing in future trends and business management. He and Dana have run a speaker and entertainment booking business since their marriage in 1979. Residents of Palm Springs since 1980, they relocated to Yucca Valley a year ago. Their own home will be one of the first built at The Sanctuary.
Currently at the tract map review level, the Meltons' project involves 320 acres in the Rimrock area. Zoned RL5 by the county, the land could legally support 64 units at one house per five acres. What the Meltons want, however, is a collection of homes which are fully integrated into the landscape and uphold the highest of energy and water conservation standards.
"I don't know how many homes will eventually be built," Jim admitted in an interview, but he was certain, "The total number will be far less than zoning will allow."
"This is a dream we're building," Dana added, clarifying that the inspiration for the project derives more from an appreciation for "sustainable living with the environment," than it does from market opportunities or profit motives.
The Melton housing dream consists first and foremost in a conviction that the native landscape upon which our houses are built is the primary design element determining all further progress of construction. Of equal importance in their dream is a home design's faculty for operational efficiency and conservation.
Such requirements will need sanction, and their dream also, therefore, consists in a constitution of covenants, conditions and restrictions they trust will implement the complete spirit of their highest ideals.
Not that they are building a Meltonville utopia; not by any means. On the contrary, they are simply risking a sizable portion of their estate to provide interested parties with a place to observe practical and common-sense principles in the manufacture and daily-life operation of their own homes.
Cost-effective housing. Formed earth construction. Natural air conditioning. Graywater systems. Solar power. Minimum accessibility impacts. Maximum preservation of native plants and landscape contours.
These are just some of the characteristics the Meltons believe their community of homes can exhibit, and in pursuit of this aim, they have secured the expertise of Gage Davis, a land planner of notable distinction whose long career has produced many projects earning praise for their environmental sensitivity.
Calling their project "The Sanctuary," the Meltons, and their partners Chuck and Gayle Hodges from Palm Springs, do not plan on building the individual homes that will eventually occupy their land. Instead, buyers will supply their own architects, and building will merely proceed in accord with the covenants, conditions and restrictions.
"We're not in the development business," Jim stressed. "We are, rather, in the idea business."
He added for further emphasis that he and his partners fully intend for The Sanctuary to serve as a prototype for building practices in the future. Although the homes built there may trend toward the more expensive, depending on the tastes of the individual residents, the Meltons assured that expense and opulence isn't the object.
"If our project is successful," they said, "it won't be because the homes are extravagant, but because their low-impact design and the technology they employ makes them both cost effective and elegant."
No stranger to the future, Jim is a guest speaker and author specializing in future trends and business management. He and Dana have run a speaker and entertainment booking business since their marriage in 1979. Residents of Palm Springs since 1980, they relocated to Yucca Valley a year ago. Their own home will be one of the first built at The Sanctuary.
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