Proactive home building: Friend to the environment

Pardee Homes demonstrated its commitment to be a leader in water-saving landscapes at its new model-home park at Nevada Trails, a community in the southwestern valley. The original model park was landscaped with pine and ash trees, privets and lots of turf, while the new complex, located across the street, is a showcase for a variety of colorful desert-friendly plants.

"We have already seen water savings on the order of 70 percent," landscape coordinator Ron Reitz said.

The new plant palette includes agaves, ocotillos, yuccas, creosote, cactuses and succulents, as well as mesquite, palo verde, shoestring acacia and desert willow trees, which are all identified by signage.

Pardee has also installed an irrigation system operated by satellite technology that receives weather data twice a day to determine how much water each plant needs, according to Reitz.

"We've got our own little desert research institute here," he said. "Nevada Trails is also being used as a test bed for plants we have found in Southern California that are drought tolerant. We just have to see how they hold up when the temperature hits 112 degrees."

In addition to Nevada Trails, a desert demonstration garden complements the model park at Vista Verde, a community in northwest Las Vegas.

"The model parks at both Nevada Trails and Vista Verde are truly beautiful and provide a great source of ideas for our visitors and home buyers who are choosing to incorporate water-efficient landscaping into their new homes," Klif Andrews, vice president of community development, said. "We are in one of the driest climates on earth and we have to learn to live responsibly with restrictions in our water supply."

In response to Southern Nevada's drought, Pardee's corporate leadership decided to showcase desert landscapes at all of its new model parks. The builder expects to open 17 neighborhoods in Southern Nevada within the next year.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority reports that by using drought-tolerant plants instead of grass, homeowners can save about 62 gallons of water per square foot per year.

The agency offers a $1-per-square-foot rebate to encourage property owners to convert some or all of their grass to a water-efficient landscape. Since the program began in 1999, more than 18.3 million square feet of grass has been replaced. That equates to more than 1.4 billion gallons of water saved each year by about 7,500 property owners.

Pardee's LivingSmart program is also demonstrated at Nevada Trails and Vista Verde. It allows buyers to select options and features such as solar electricity, fluorescent lighting, tankless water heaters, low VOC paint and central vacuum systems.

Through the Energy Star/ComfortWise program, all of the builder's new homes are independently certified to be at least 30 percent more energy efficient than federal standards require.

"Pardee's commitment two years ago to build only Energy Star homes was just the jumping off point to the earth-friendly and energy-saving ideas now being offered at Vista Verde and Nevada Trails," Andrews said.

To visit Nevada Trails, take Interstate 215 to Rainbow Boulevard, go one mile south to Robindale Road and turn right. To reach Vista Verde, take U.S. Highway 95 north to Durango Drive and turn left. Go to Oso Blanca Road, turn right, proceed to Severance Lane and turn left.

The model parks are open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily except Monday, when they open at 11 a.m.

Pardee has built nearly 30,000 homes in Southern Nevada since 1952.

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