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Harmony Green Village, formerly Empty-Nest Cohousing

By jimw ⋅ October 21, 2009 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

Tags: cohousing, Swarthmore

4 to 10 acres needed to construct small green-built & green-maintained community

We are calling for a change in construction and zoning practices to have a more positive impact on the environmental and social well-being of humanity. We want to offer a tangible alternative to decades of suburban sprawl with ever larger houses that has left the Mid-Atlantic region with wasted land, wasted building materials, and wasted energy. We hope to attract a special landowner who may have resisted the impulse to sell previously because of prior adverse building trends, but because of shared values, may sell to us now at fair market value to help bring in a community that can serve as an environmental role model throughout the region!

As soon as we obtain the land and gain zoning approval, we will begin to build a “Cohousing” Community for 20 to 35 owner-occupied households. Cohousing began as a special housing model in Denmark in the 1960s, and now exists all over the world. Cohousing community residents historically have had a great concern for the environment, as well as for the people that dwell within it, and were building “green” long before it became fashionable. The houses are usually clustered, preserving open space, while fostering community. Paved internal roads are minimal, and dwellings are built or retrofitted to use green technology, like passive solar and geothermal heating. Communities are sometimes referred to as “Ecovillages”. Buildings previously serving other purposes are often “recycled” into Cohousing.

Cohousing communities usually are condominiums with striking differences. As in condos, every homeowner has a complete separate dwelling in which to enjoy total privacy. However, members of the community maintain the common areas themselves for fellowship and economy, only hiring outsiders for jobs no one wants to do. A Cohousing Community follows a consensus process of management by residents, starting with the design of the community itself. To further promote a sense of genuine “neighborhood”, group prepared meals are offered in a “Common House”, (clubhouse), for those that want to participate. An existing home on the property may well suit our needs as a “Common House”.

A Cohousing Clubhouse contains many typical clubhouse amenities that also save on space needed in individuals’ houses for the same activities: a shared library, exercise room, and large work spaces, but importantly usually includes several guest bedrooms that can be booked for residents’ overnight guests. Individual homes can therefore be far smaller and more energy efficient than traditional condos. Because we want to cater to small households, we will offer nothing larger than a 2 bedroom unit. This will also save on land and building materials needed for individual homes.

We hope for at least 5 acres to allow a mixture of clustered attached townhouses, carriage houses and condo flats, but would consider converting an existing building in a green way. We want to be in Pennsylvania or Delaware near public transportation, I-95, and the Delaware border.

Go to www.cohousing.org to learn about Cohousing. The site profiles numerous communities springing up all over the United States, including others forming in Pennsylvania that will have room for larger households. We can be contacted through this web-site, under Delaware or Pennsylvania in its Directory, at the e-mail address below, or at 302-229-7793, 610-361-0944, by other interested households, or most especially, by a landowner who would be willing to sell us a piece of land and become part of making our dream come true. Will an altruistic landowner step forward to give the region a chance to try something very different? If this plea is brought to the attention of all landowners with an interest in environmental issues, it just may be possible! We are a dream waiting to come true, and we all want to make a difference locally and globally. Please help us spread the word!

Sally Stager Thompson, Founding Member
Harmony Green Village (formerly Empty-Nest Cohousing)
harmonygreenvillage@verizon.net.

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