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Green Parking 06-04-15 | News
Green Parking





The house on this narrow property on the shore of Lake Macatawa southwest of Grand Rapids, Mich., was torn down to make way for this summer cottage. The homeowner wanted ample parking space for family and visitors, but did not want a lot of hardscape. After a concrete drive was installed, Landscape Design Services of Holland, Mich., installed INSERT square feet of Tuff Track Grassroad pavers alongside it to facilitate the owner's wishes.





The base consisted of 10 inches of a mixture of 70 percent road gravel and 30 percent screened topsoil. Permaloc aluminum paver edging was used to restrain the 24"-square pavers, which were then filled with screened topsoil. Next, the INSERT pavers were hydroseeded with a Finn machine.





Besides the grass pavers, Landscape Design Services oversaw a complete custom residential installation on the property, which included retaining walls of New York bluestone outcropping and flagstone, stamped concrete patios & walks, hydroseeded lawns, a stamped concrete driveway, irrigation, outdoor lighting and a large variety of plantings. Landscape Design Services' own nursery provided weeping Japanese maples, upright Japanese maples, Malepartus grass, Dwarf Globe blue spruces, Red Knockout roses, Kousa dogwoods, "Limelight' hydrangeas, Maresii Viburnum, "Winter Gem' boxwoods, "Red Sunset' maples, Hosta "Sieboldiana' and river birches.




Connected to the east side of Lake Michigan via a manmade channel, Lake Macatawa is a small body of water southwest of Grand Rapids whose shore is partly lined with high-income residential development. It was there in 2012 that the removal of an existing house and plans to build a summerhouse led to an intensive design/build project for Landscape Design Services of Holland, Mich.

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Kelly Karp, who created the plans, says that, working directly for the homeowner, her company's involvement began in the fall of that year. As the largest full-service landscape company in western Michigan with over 125 team members, Landscape Design Services prides themselves on their one-to-one, long-term relationships with customers.

This particular one had a site with a long narrow layout and tight property lines with the house location, which presented a challenge throughout the design and installation, as did the property's grade changes.

One of the main requests of the homeowner was ample parking space for family and visitors, but with a limited amount of hard surface.

A crew of three to six took care of that by installing INSERT square feet of 24-inch-square Tuff Track Grassroad pavers on a ten-inch bed of 70 percent road gravel and 30 percent screened topsoil. The pavers were 24 inches square and over INSERT were used. Permaloc aluminum paver edging kept them in place.

The landscape team was assisted by a Bobcat T-190 skid steer, International 466 truck, International Series 2000 dump truck, Wacker plate compactor, and a Finn hydroseeder, all owned by Landscape Design Services, and a rented Vermeer mini skid steer with Harley rake.

Nestled into its narrow lot, the home stands ready to welcome its visitors, and let them enjoy all this site has to offer including a main floor deck, lower level patio, lakeside patio and lush lawn area, all with magnificent views of the water.

As Karp relates, "Family and friends are important, and this site now has the ability to accommodate and entertain a large crowd."








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