Jeff Echols, CGP

Regular visitors to Renovation Resources know that the posts here are about renovating your home. They're about products, best practices and the process of building, upgrading or expanding your home. They often revolve around Green or Sustainable issues. Some are even meant to guide you through the process of selecting design professionals and craftspeople to work with. But let's think outside of the box right now. Let's go outside of the big, Green or soon-to-be Green box that is your home. Is your yard green? I don't mean Scotts Lawn green. I mean good for your family, your neighborhood and the environment Green. Is it Sustainable?

One of the areas where you can make the most significant impact on the environment as a whole is actually outside of your home. Of course there are as many Green issues involved in this outdoor arena as indoors. You could consider everything from rain harvesting to xeriscaping; grey water recycling to wind breaks; sun angles to lawn chemicals. An excellent resource for information and advice on these topics and others relating to your Green surroundings is Dean Hill, ASLA, CGP. Dean is a Landscape Architect, the namesake of Green Dean and the driving force behind the Green Dean Blog and Tangible Green. Like Renovation Resources, much of Dean's work revolves around making changes to your environment that make sense for you finances, your health and your environment. When you're ready to "Think Outside the Green Box," check Green Dean out.

If you live within one of the fifteen Historic or Conservation Districts in Marion County and plan on Renovating your home or property, there are a number of resources and requirements that you need to be aware of. This information may be of particular interest to homeowners in the Chatham Arch, Massachusetts Avenue and Irvington neighborhoods, as well as, those in Cumberland, Indiana. These areas have all either had new plans or revised plans adopted by the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission(IHPC) in the past two years. The IHPC is a State mandated Commission charged with preserving "the character and fabric of historically significant areas and structures for all present and future citizens of Marion County."

What does all this mean to you? It means that if you live in one of these areas and are planning a Renovation, the IHPC has design and zoning review jurisdiction over your property. The plans for your project will have to be presented to and reviewed and approved by the IHPC.

This all sounds complicated, what benefitdoes it bring to me? The process is definitely outside the realm of most homeowner's typical experience, but according to a study by the Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, there are financial benefits to these Districts. Most notably, the perception that having to submit to such requirements may scare potential homeowners away from the Districts and drive property values down is soundly renounced. In fact, according to the study, homeownership in new Districts tends to stabilize and property values typically out pace similar adjacent neighborhoods.

Visit the IHPC website and the Historic District and Conservation Area Plans link at for more particulars and support the Historic District that your neighborhood falls within.

What if you had the opportunity to buy sell or own a piece of property on one of the most pristine, controlled bodies of freshwater in the American Southeast?

Restrictions on the amount of public land renders Hutchison Farms as the only private development of its type available in South Carolina on beautiful Lake Richard B. Russell.

Natural vegetation along the largely undeveloped shoreline of Lake Russell provides food, cover, nesting and sanctuary for wildlife and is essential to maintaining the natural beauty of the lake.

Hutchison Farms is the idyllic location where you will enjoy the privacy and intense beauty that this setting has to offer. Your closest neighbors will be deer, turkeys and osprey.

Lake Russell is fast becoming popular with those who desire privacy and natural surroundings. Be the first to choose your property in this one of a kind development.

There are only nine home sites available in this exclusive community. Each site is more than seven acres and has an average of 300 feet of frontage along the Army Corps of Engineers' Boundary.

Hutchison Farms is located in historic Abbeville County, near the town of Lowndesville, with small town charm and atmosphere. You will only be a thirty minute drive from Anderson, South Carolina, two hours from Atlanta or one hour from Greenville, South Carolina.

Now is your chance.