Colorado-Real-Estate-Journal_319902

January 4-18, 2023 - Page 29 www.crej.com Measurable Results. ® | SVAaccountants.com Adam Kleinmaus , CPA, Principal SVA Certified Public Accountants kleinmausa@sva.com Adam consults with real estate developers and property managers on deal structuring, tax credits, and operational issues. He has valuable experience with the unique reporting requirements for government funding programs. Adam and the SVA Team Will Help You With: Bring SVA Your Vision and I’ll Help Make it a Reality. Accessing Debt and Capital Section 1031 Like-Kind Exchanges Compliance Consultation Tax Credits Transaction Structuring H ere in Colorado – and throughout the Western states – two crises are bear- ing down on us. First, there’s the deepening megadrought: The last two decades have seen the driest conditions in the last 1,200 years. We’re also experiencing an epic housing shortage. With supply lagging demand, U.S. home prices have soared by nearly 90% o ver the last decade, and the dream of homeownership is receding for many. Now those crises are col- liding. Concerns about water supply have led some West- ern jurisdictions to halt the construction of new homes, further aggravating the hous- ing shortfall. Across the Front Range, water is likely to be the key limit to growth in the com- ing decades. We can build new wind and solar farms, but we can’t make more water. We do have options, howev- er. We can change the way we build, so that our homes and neighborhoods sip – rather than chug – finite water resourc- es. That means mainstream- ing the use of water-efficient fixtures and appliances and – importantly – reusing water to extinction and rethinking our lawns and landscaping. And it means adjusting incentives for builders and homeowners to manage demand for water. My fam- ily company is showing that it can be done. Ster- ling Ranch, the 3,400- acre mas- ter planned community we are developing in Douglas County, current- ly uses around half as much water as comparable jurisdic- tions in the Denver region. Early in the planning pro- cess, we learned that, unlike the rest of the county that our development is located within, groundwater underlying the property would not be avail- able for use by Sterling Ranch. That forced us to get creative – proving that scarcity is the mother of invention. For exam- ple, we launched Colorado’s first and only municipal-scale rainwater harvesting pilot site project. In this way, we plan to eventually obtain over 70% of the development’s water from renewable sources, like rain- water and snowmelt, and reuse water rather than solely relying on the area’s shrinking supply of groundwater. We are also finding new ways to deliver conventional water infrastructure. Dominion Water and Sanitation District manages the wholesale water and wastewater infrastructure for Sterling Ranch, as part of a broader regional coalition called the WISE Partnership (which stands for Water, Infra- structure and Supply Efficien- cy). WISE reduces infrastruc- ture costs by sharing water assets among cities, districts, and water suppliers – reducing costs for everyone, including our residents. We have also deployed cut- ting-edge technology to meet our ambitious water conserva- tion goals – as recommended by the Urban Land Institute’s WaterWise report. In doors, that means efficient, low-flow fix- tures and appliances. And our firm partnered with Siemens to deliver smart utility man- agement throughout the com- munity, including residential dual-meter water systems that differentiate between outdoor and indoor water consump- tion. Indoor use is priced lower than outdoor use, since indoor use is reusable in Colorado. Residents know outdoor water is expensive, so they use less of it. To help residents use less out- door water, we worked with the Denver Botanic Gardens to design beautiful, drought- tolerant landscaping. New homeowners are not allowed to plant a full yard of water- thirsty grass; instead, we offer a palette of 150 native dryland plants. As my father, Harold Smethills, is fond of saying, the idea is to “use grass as a throw rug instead of a carpet.” To water those “throw rugs” without wasting a drop, we put in Rachio smart irrigation controllers, which tie irriga- tion to evapotranspiration data from nearby weather moni- toring stations and alert users about leaks. Empowered with information technology and smart systems, Sterling Ranch residents are embracing sus- tainable lifestyles and helping the development not only meet but exceed our water manage- ment goals. At the same time, we sited Sterling Ranch in an area with lots of preserved open space and hundreds of miles of trails. That access to green space means residents are less depen- dent on their yards for a little slice of nature. The bounty of green space also enables us to build Sterling Ranch more densely than many compara- ble developments, which con- serves water and other resourc- es. In a hotter, drier future, there may well be places we should not build. But there are many more places where water-wise building practices can allow for continued growth and afford- ability. Adopting those strate- gies makes good sense for busi- ness, for homeowners, and for the planet. s brocks@sterlingranchcolorado.com Conserve water, and keep building water-wise homes Water Conservation Brock Smethills President, Sterling Ranch Development Co. Across the Front Range, water is likely to be the key limit to growth in the coming decades. We can build new wind and solar farms, but we can’t make more water.