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a mixed income, mixed use community

Habitat for Humanity, The Charlottesville Community Design Center and the residents of Sunrise Trailer Court have joined forces to create a new prototype for transforming substandard housing without displacing residents.

Habitat for Humanity's intention is to replace the Sunrise trailer park, located within the urban center of Charlottesville, with a dense, affordable, mixed-income housing development that is culturally and environmentally sensitive.
Sunrise Trailer Court, Future Site for Project Sunrise Community Design

The first step in the sunrise community design process was for The Charlottesville Community Design Center to hold an international design competition. Designers from around the world took part in a design competition. The entrants were asked to design a community of approximately 55 homes, half of which are affordable for low-income families and the remainder which are market-rate housing for working families. Other criteria included the use of innovative building technologies, sustainable features from site design to energy-efficient operation, and the use of green space and other community-building features.

First place was awarded to Utile of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Their design most intimately understood and incorporated the existing orientation of the site, while also addressing the residents' desire for open communal spaces where they will be able to gather, garden, and play.

The Metropolitan Planning Collaborative (MPC), an initiative of professionals from New York, San Francisco, and Washington, was awarded second place. Their design communicated a relaxed, flexible, Southern flavor that leveraged many of the trailer park's existing assets, such as its sense of community, compact housing, open space, and mountain views.

Habitat has requested the funding to allow us to employ both Utile and MPC to complete Phase I of our master plan for Sunrise. Due to a generous grant of $75,000 from the Blue Moon Foundation and $62,000 from the Perry Foundation, work has already begun on the first component of Phase I.

 
Sunrise Trailer Court Phase I: Sunrise Redevelopment Progress

Workshop 1
The first community based workshop was held on August 19, 2006 at Clark Elementary School. Based on input gathered at this workshop and a thorough site analysis, the Sunrise project design team developed three site plan alternatives and a variety of housing typologies for review by the community in the second workshop.

Workshop2
Held on November 11, 2006, again brought a small, but diverse, group of citizens to Clark Elementary School. The group included current Sunrise residents, their Belmont neighbors, and representatives from the Blue Moon Fund, the Charlottesville Community Design Center, and the Sunrise Advisory Committee.

Workshop3
On February 26, 2007, we held the last in our series of community based workshops at the Charlottesville Community Design Center. It was attended by over 30 people and offered a comprehensive presentation and exhibition by of the refined design concept for Sunrise.

Over the course of the above 2-hour sessions, workshop participants reviewed and provided input on the housing typologies and concept site plans. The feedback was used by the design team to refine the design of the site and housing and helped the team to develop a final plan.

The next phase of the planning process will include the development of the master plan documentation along with construction documentation and a PUD application.

 
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