CHINOOK GATE IMPRESSES GREEN-MINDED COUPLE
While green-minded living can involve simple daily decisions, it’s also possible to make a more substantial commitment. Adrian Bollard and Sherry Kells have gone the environmentally conscious route on major purchases that they use every day.
The couple owns a Tesla Model 3, which is an electric vehicle. And when they entered the market for a new home earlier this year, to no surprise, sustainability was a driving factor in this decision, as well.
Impressed by the energy-efficient features that come standard through homes by Excel Homes, the couple turned to the builder for a front-drive single-family home in the new community of Chinook Gate, in southwest Airdrie.
“We’re very passionate about green energy and the environment, so walking the talk is important,” says Bollard, adding Excel’s involvement in the Built Green Canada program was part of the appeal.
Built Green is a national, industry-driven program, where homes can earn certification for energy efficiency through the materials and methods that go into its build.
Among the green-minded features Excel offers as a standard in its homes are high-efficiency furnaces, low-flow toilets, energyefficient appliances, heat recovery ventilators, and a solar conduit, allowing for solar panels to be installed in the future.
With their new home, the Tesla owners also picked up a feature that will support the innovative vehicle they purchased this past summer. Excel is installing a NEMA 14-50 outlet in their double car front-attached garage, which for their car’s charging purposes will “top it off overnight,” says Bollard.
The couple will also look to have solar panels installed on the roof of their home. This was one of the reasons for choosing the eleva- tion they did, Bollard says, adding it gives them “more south-facing roof, which helps us maximize solar panelling.”
The plan for these panels, he adds, is to create enough energy to both power their home and the car.
Bollard and Kells bought Excel’s Halton model, a three-bedroom home measuring 1,813 square feet.
“We pretty much like everything about it,” says Bollard, calling the second floor “really spacious,” and highlights its laundry room and “huge bonus room.”
They’re also having their basement developed through the builder, which will boast a handy home office and a theatre room.
Their move to Chinook Gate will follow living in a rental suite on a friend’s farm in Rocky View County. Ready for a place of their own and something that shortened the drive to Calgary, where they both work, Bollard and Kells did their research on locations that best suited their needs.
Chinook Gate, master-planned by Brookfield Residential — and along with Excel, includes McKee Homes and Brookfield in its builder group — formally launched in May. These builders all have show homes displayed in the community.
Brookfield earned the Developer Pinnacle Award, the top honour in the community developer class, at the BILD (Building Industry and Land Development) Alberta Awards, announced during a gala event in Jasper recently.
One of the keys, says Bollard, was the location. Chinook Gate is accessed by heading west on Yankee Valley Boulevard, past 8th Street S.W., and turning left onto Chinook Gate Boulevard.
“It’s close to a Costco, which is big for us, and there’s a Tesla Supercharger station at CrossIron Mills,” he says. “That’s probably 10 minutes from the house.”
This Costco is adjacent to CrossIron Mills, which is just south of Airdrie limits. The CrossIron Supercharger station, according to Tesla’s website, has eight superchargers that are available 24 hours a day and seven days a week.
Kells has family in Didsbury, Red Deer and the Edmonton area, making their new home’s easy access to Highway 2 “practical,” as well.
Chinook Gate also puts residents on the doorstep of a prime amenity for outdoor recreation. The community is just northwest, and a quick walk from Chinook Winds Regional Park.
It features three playgrounds, a skate park, a multi-use court, volleyball courts, ball diamonds, a toboggan hill, and a spray park,
according to the City of Airdrie website.
“I think it’s huge,” says Jamie Lefebre, Excel’s area sales manager in Chinook, of the park. “Chinook Winds is definitely bringing (like-minded people) to this neighbourhood. It’s a really family friendly, neighbourly vibe that’s being built here.
“It’s all built, already, which is nice, too,” she adds. “People don’t have to wait for these amenities to come their way.”
On the draw of the park, Bollard agrees.
“Having the trails and park so close to the property, certainly makes it more enticing to get out for some exercise,” he says, adding the couple enjoys cycling in the evenings.