Living the dream at Village Homes
A dream came true in 1975 for two forward-thinking Davis residents, when construction began on Village Homes, a community that has earned praise worldwide for its groundbreaking, earth-friendly design.
Mike and Judy Corbett imagined the green, energy-efficient, environmentally sustainable community before those terms entered the popular lexicon.
Today, Village Homes a thriving 70 acres of orchards, greenbelts, apartments, a community center, small business park and 225 homes in West Davis. In place of fences, there are pathways woven throughout to encourage interaction and nurture a sense of interconnectedness.
The design was so groundbreaking, the Corbetts suddenly found themselves in the spotlight. They were asked to speak at lectures. Movie stars and dignitaries from around the world were guests in their living room.
“It was insane,” Judy says now, 36 years later.
She and Mike, who were married at the time, never expected their vision to take off the way it did. Together, they had begun the project as an exercise in designing sustainable communities. Both were taking college ecology classes and were inspired to tackle environmental issues head-on.
“We realized, oh my gosh, we have a problem,” Judy says.
They believed it was possible to build a community that discouraged driving, utilized solar power, offered natural drainage and edible landscaping, and was a place where children could romp and neighbors could be close friends.
It was a rough start — they fought for three years to get financing and city and county approvals — but it happened.
“Just out of pure luck, tenacity … it managed to happen,” Judy says.
Time applauded Village Homes, calling it a “suburban dream” and “one of the world’s best examples of sustainable development” because it does not degrade the environment for future generations. The magazine featured the Corbetts in a two-page spread that recounted the obstacles they had to overcome before gaining the regulatory approval and bank financing needed to develop the subdivision.
In 1999, the Corbetts were named “Heroes for the Planet” at an event presented by Ford Motor Co., where they and environmentalists from around the world were recognized for their innovative work in preserving the environment.
In 2000, the Corbetts published a book, “Designing Sustainable Communities: Learning From Village Homes,” that describes the history of Village Homes and their hopes for housing of the future.
That same year marked Village Homes’ 25th anniversary. At a celebration that drew roughly 300 people, the community honored the Corbetts with champagne and a bronze plaque that is now mounted on a large rock near the community center.
It reads: “Village Homes is a special neighborhood designed to enhance a spirit of community and environmental sustainability.
“This plaque is dedicated to Michael and Judy Corbett with gratitude for their vision in founding Village Homes in 1975.”
The community’s motto, “Live in Peace,” was also commemorated on T-shirts for sale, and residents barbecued, harvested grapes and danced to live music.
“The way we created a place where people can come together and work together has really worked out well,” Judy says now, more three-and-a-half decades later.
One study, conducted by a UCD graduate student in the early ’90s, found that people in a neighboring housing development knew 17 of their neighbors, while people in Village Homes knew 40 neighbors, she says. Residents in the control neighborhood had no best-friend neighbors while people living in Village Homes had three or four, she says.
And the children benefited from lots of fresh air and exercise because they could safely play in the greenbelts, parks and orchards.
“My youngest, Christopher, wouldn’t come home for lunch because he was feeding off the fruits and vegetables that were growing,” Judy recalls.
Their son is now in his 30s and works as a landscape designer and architect in Davis.
While in college, he was quoted in the Corbetts’ book, saying, “Now that I am no longer living in Village Homes, I feel locked in by the fence in my backyard and the street in front of my house.
“I feel a loss of the freedom I had as a child.”
Their daughter, Lisa, now in her 40s, is a dance instructor based out of an office in the Village Homes business park.
Although Mike has moved out, Judy continues to live in the 2,200-square-foot home they built together. Other than a few tweaks to improve energy efficiency, not much has changed about house, which features three bedrooms, two bathrooms, two decks and two offices.
“I really like the house,” Judy says. “It has a lot of personality and I don’t think I’m going to change it.”
She says she plans on staying there a long time.
“Good friends, fresh fruits and vegetables, the ability to walk to the store. What more do you need?” she says.
Short URL: http://www.davisenterprise.com/?p=59236
Posted by Crystal Lee
on Jul 7 2011.
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