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A
Community in Early Formation
!
Co-housing
links & models:
Co-Housing
(National organization)
Two-Echos (Brunswick,
Maine) lots sold for approx $50k each
Cobb Hill
(Hartland, VT) 260 acre farm
Champlain
Valley (Charlotte, VT)
lots sold for approx $200,000 each
Contact
Us:
central_vt_cohousing
@ yahoo.com
phone:
223-5787 |
Update: March 2, 2005: This effort has morphed and turned into a Montpelier Co-housing group with a slightly different set of characters. Nothing bad happened; of our initial group, three or four households bought houses individually. My dog became ill with cancer (this was bad, but not related to the group) and co-housing took a back burner. One person decided her finances don't allow home ownership. Below are some notes for historical information only, and I encourage you to check out MontpelierCohousing.org for the latest local news!
July
17, 2004.
A few of us in the Montpelier, Vermont, area are thinking about the possibility
of forming a co-housing community.
The co-housing model blends privacy with an intentional community.
Maybe we would have a common woodlot, garden, or trails?
Several of us are seeking to buy homes, but the housing market is both
tight and sky-high! Through pooling resources with other like-minded
folks, perhaps we can arrive at affordable, unique, and enriching homes.
My house would be passive solar, strawbale, but what you do would be up
to you!
I recently posted an ad at the Hunger Mountain Coop, and I have had a
few responses. We are now planning to gather over dinner (potluck)
to talk about our ideas, dreams, questions, and concerns -- and to figure
out whether this is something we can turn into reality. Our current
discussion is to buy land within 5-7 miles of Montpelier this fall and
build in spring/summer 2005.
July 24,
2004
Howdy all,
We just had
a delightful meeting of co-housing interested folks here at my house.
What an interesting chat, good meeting of visions, and complimentary skills!
We *did* all decide that we want to meet again -- and hope that those
of you who couldn't join us this time can come next time.
Possible
next dates = Thurs 7/29, Wed 8/4, Thurs 8/5. RSVP if
you're interested!
We now have
about 15 households (singles, couples, families) who have expressed interest,
and we had 5 households at our meeting.
_______________________
Summary of the chat
We have slightly
different takes on what co-housing means - there's some who tend toward
agricultural pursuits (vegetables, native plant nursery, chickens, homesteading)
and some whose livelihoods take us to Montpelier or Burlington. There
was much support for a mix of privacy and a common meeting space - kitchen,
in particular. Composting toilets and constructed wetlands for greywater
treatment also got a round of applause (ok, not quite, but nodding of
heads at least).
We actually had good agreement, I think, that we're ideally looking for:
* a decent sized piece of property (maybe 50-100 acres?)
* good tillable soil
* some woods, with an eye toward cutting firewood
* place well-suited to ecological disposal of human waste (via composting
toilets or common septic, etc)
* solar exposure
* chance to live fairly sustainably on the land
* proximity to Montpelier - for commuting/social - how close is debateable
* some common facilities - common house, shared land/management, meals
along
with complete, private, yet smaller-than-usual individual homes.
We talked lightly about possible legal models and resources such as the
Central VT Community Land Trust and the VT Housing and Conservation Board.
Ok, here's a dream -- we thought that a certain controversial pasture
near Montpelier would have made an *ideal* housing site for our vision.
(That property unfortunately has a multi-year option by the developer:
locked up.)
We didn't get into the thick and heavy of decision-making and bylaws,
but we did realize that if a lovely farm were to suddenly come on the
market, we'd need to have a serious plan in order to be ready
to buy it.
_____________________________________________
Oh my goodness, we actually looked at a specific property!
We also talked
about another specific property that is on the market
in the area, which we decided not to pursue actively (because we didn't
like it), although several members of the group may do a driveby. If it's
still on the market when we next meet, we will compare notes. Having this
discussion about the specific property gave our discussion a new level
of "reality" and helped us move quickly from "wouldn't
it be nice if..." to "ok, what would it take to do this?"
_________________________
Back to reality, of our next steps
- We're
working on a survey of likes/dislikes and common ground.
- We're
going to ask someone knowledgeable about housing land trusts to come
to a meeting, and we're creating a "wishlist of speakers"
for other experts whose knowledge we hope to be able to tap.
- Our agenda
for the next meeting includes creating a timeline and an "emergency
scramble plan" in case a good property comes on the market.
- We're
thinking of what legal/financial structures we need to have in place,
even while we work to refine our vision.
All this, and more... next meeting.
I'll end by saying that I am super-excited. I love the idea of adding
an active farm to the mix, and what I'm hearing from all of us mirrors
so perfectly the discussions/concerns in Montpelier around affordable
housing, I think we may find a lot of support! Particularly if we want
to be close to the city for bicycling, we may end up being involved with
important farmland preservation. Rarer land, but maybe a very sweet chance.
That's it for now!!
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