Heritage Park at Crane Creek, an affordable housing development in south Melbourne, was honored on April 12 with the distinguished “We Noticed” Beautification Award by Keep Brevard Beautiful (KBB) for its commitment to native and sustainable landscaping practices.

The 15-acre, 108-unit multi-family community, completed in 2021, is a collaboration between Carrfour Supportive Housing and Steadytown, two non-profit organizations dedicated to advancing affordable housing. Heritage Park offers one, two, and three-bedroom apartments, with 56 units reserved for households overcoming homelessness and the remaining for households earning 60% or below the Brevard County Area Median Income.

The development marks Carrfour Supportive Housing’s first project in Brevard County, expanding the organization’s influence as the largest non-profit developer of affordable housing in Florida. Steadytown, a local Melbourne-based private family foundation dedicated to addressing homelessness, affordable housing, and environmental restoration, provided investment for Heritage Park and played a crucial role in designing the native landscape.

Over 10,000 individual plants from 100 native species adorn the grounds of Heritage Park, featuring unique elements such as a rain garden, roundabout, wildflower meadows, freedom lawns, wetland preserve, “food forest” of edibles, and native garden beds. The landscape installation, overseen by Steadytown, has been meticulously documented on iNaturalist, showcasing 468 unique species of wildlife observed on-site since the project’s completion.

Change of Greenery, a local landscaping and restoration firm headed by Skip Healy, maintains the landscape, employing environmentally-friendly methods such as using no insecticides or broad-use herbicides and minimal irrigation, relying on City of Melbourne reclaim water. Additionally, fertilizer is not used because compost with high organic content was utilized during installation. The slow release of nutrients from this compost and the reclaimed water are sufficient for excellent plant growth.

Attending the “We Noticed” presentation were Yvonne Minus, City of Melbourne Council Member; Sandra Newson, Carrfour Supportive Housing’s Vice President of Resident Services; Twilar Peeples, Carrfour Supportive Housing’s Program Coordinator; Keith Donald, Steadytown’s President; City of Melbourne employees; Skip Healy, Change of Greenery owner; KBB staff; and KBB South Action Team members.

The South Action Team recognizes property- and business-owners throughout the southern part of Brevard County year-round for their efforts to beautify the area and environmentally improve their landscaping, highlighting the importance of sustainable landscaping practices. The program has been in operation since the 1990’s and has recognized dozens of properties throughout the County.

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