HBA Newswatch
April 14, 2008
IT’S NOT EASY BUILDING GREEN
TASK FORCE WILL EXAMINE LOCAL, STATE AND NATIONAL GREEN BUILDING PROGRAMS TO HELP AREA HOME BUILDERS
Residential builders know all too well, it is not easy building green.
To bring some guidance to the table for local home builders, the Home Builders Association of Chester and Delaware counties is forming a Green Building Task Force to examine the local, state and national green building programs.
The task force will review the National Home Builders Green Home Building Guidelines, the U.S Green Building Council’s LEED for Homes Green Building Rating System and the Keystone Green Building Initiative, a program formulated by the HBA of Bucks and Montgomery counties.
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SHORT SALES AN ALTERNATIVE TO FORECLOSURE
By Al Heavens
Inquirer Real Estate Columnist
Some homeowners struggling with mortgage payments are opting for a dose of strong medicine to cure their financial ills: a short sale, in which the lender agrees to accept less than what is owed, to remove the house from the books.
In a short sale, both the homeowner and the bank lose money. But the seller's credit isn't damaged as badly as it would be with a foreclosure, in which the lender seizes and sells the property - typically at an auction that begins with a bid equal to the outstanding loan balance, accrued interest, and any fees connected with the sale.
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OFFICIALS APPROVE UPGRADE TO WATERSHED
PICKERING CREEK GAINS EXCEPTIONAL VALUE STATUS, ADDING PROTECTION AGAINST DEVELOPER POLLUTION
By DANIELLE LYNCH, Staff Writer
WEST PIKELAND — The majority of supervisors voted in favor of upgrading the Pickering Creek Watershed designation to exceptional value on Monday. Two of the five supervisors were adamantly opposed to it.
Back in January, the township’s environmental value committee formed and was tasked to provide an evaluation with the advantages and disadvantages of supporting the state’s Department of Environmental Protection’s possible upgrade of Pickering Creek’s status. At the end of February, the committee presented a 19-page evaluation report to the supervisors in which it recommended the board move to upgrade the water status from high quality to exceptional value.
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MANATAWNY VILLAGE COULD ADD ASSISTED LIVING COMPLEX
By Evan Brandt, ebrandt@pottsmerc.com
POTTSTOWN -- The final phase of the over-55 retirement community off Manatawny Street may end looking a whole lot different than what was planned when it was approved in 2001.
Developer David Specht, who has with his partners built Manatawny Village on the hill above the Wickerton Heights apartments, brought his team before Borough Council Wednesday to explain his “vision” for the remaining phase, which was initially planned as 14-or-so individual homes on the four acres nearest Manatawny Street.
Instead, said Specht, he would like permission to build an 80,000-square-foot continuing care facility with about 62 living units and 80 beds.
The concept calls for 30 “independent living” apartments on three levels on one side of the complex, a second three-story building in the center which would comprise a common area and assisted living.
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