Development and conservation, strange but workable bedfellows according to developer Gail Penney, executive director of Penney Group.

She’s hopeful that by using innovative techniques, 60 per cent of the land in The Villages of Seven Lakes project, which is currently under construction, will be preserved.

“It’s a 634 acre, conservation-designed community,” Penney said at the Tim Hortons in Porters Lake. “People in this area wanted to have people who work in the Eastern Shore also be able to live here.”

Penney said young people in the community have few options for housing. She’s hoping Seven Lakes will become a destination for a variety of homebuyers.

“The first aspect of conservation design is looking at the land and determining what aspects need to be protected,” she said. “We’re building nature reserves and putting our houses around that, clustered together, creating little villages.”