NYLANDS SUSTAINABILITY HISTORY
At the December 2020 community meeting a timeline was organized for all attending to take a stroll through time and then, with a little help from their friends, we remembered. . .
The original Nyland mission statement held an intention to be sensitive to the environment and share human resources. Residences were concentrated in one area to lessen the footprint and keep costs down. Corridors for wild animal movements and bird habitat were part of the original design. All homes were built facing due south for maximum passive solar benefit. Each home was built with double-paned windows, extra insulation, and low-flow toilets. A couple of houses had solar hot water. The ‘octopus’ whole house air filtration systems and exchanger can still be found in some homes. In 1992, Nyland was the most energy efficient neighborhood in Colorado.
There has been a culture of sharing and helping each other out. A food co-op was formed and food and non-toxic cleaning supplies were bulk ordered. There was once a kitchen manager for common house meals. The common house, wood-working shop, garden space and materials yard have been community-shared assets. Many projects utilize these spaces to benefit the community, like growing plants for common spaces. There’s a library and free box in the Common House to share clothing and household items continuing the tradition started with the Coyote Clothier where clothes were exchanged in a day of fun and fashion. The Natter is a constant flow of sharing, loaning, and giving away everything!
Nyland started on an exhausted, fallow crop field and by the time the construction process finished there was even more damage which often turned into a muddy mess when returning home. There’s been an ongoing and successful effort to restore the common lands and manage invasive plants. Native plants and seeds are sought out for land restoration, once involving a lot of negotiation with the city in the changeover from septic to sewer. The landscaping is intentionally native, xeriscape, and edible with a permaculture design. Hundreds of trees, bushes, and perennials have been planted. Some of our trees started as bare root ‘sticks’ in the ground and there are lots of producing fruit trees. Nylanders have followed guidelines to keep the land and our homes safe from products and practices that might be harmful.
There’s always been community composting which has expanded to the big bin for hot composting. Recycling, in its many manifestations, has morphed to the state-of-the art shed we have now. Nyland Pride day is now an annual clean-up for households and the community shared spaces. Ty and Jesse’s Diversion Connection for construction waste recycling diverted tons of construction materials from the landfill and served Nyland and the county.
For a decade, we’ve had Lara’s farm - food doesn’t get more local than that! The farm now includes the hoop house and greenhouse which extends the season and has started thousands of seedlings, the farm stand for organic, fresh food whenever we need it, plant sales, fruit and meat shares, herbs and plant medicine, food prepared in the winter for sale to eat in our homes, food and gardening education, and donations to our community meals. And that’s the short list! Not one, but two chicken co-ops formed. Marilyn’s beehives have been buzzing for over a decade.
From 2006-2012, with the help of creative financing, solar panels were installed on 39 of the 42 homes and the Common House. Solar panels have just been installed on the wood shop, as well, and an EV charging station is now available. Before there was Mary’s EV car-share there was the NyVan, a community-shared vehicle. Do you remember that? Some of the first EV’s offered were owned by Nylanders. Now we have EV chargers for an ever-increasing number of EV owners.
A grass-roots effort by Nylanders petitioned for the 225 bus route down Baseline.
An RTD eco-pass has been offered to all residents since its inception. Bike riding is encouraged and was once promoted with an annual ‘Bike to the Top’ ride.