A lot has happened in the last months. One thing which became clear was a few members wanted to move ahead with finding property and making the move and investment to start building a physical location. We went through various visioning exercises, financing scenarios and viewing different properties and realized for such a big and complex undertaking, we needed a development consultant to help administer and lead us through the process. We have spoken at length with 2 co-housing consultants and are on the verge of signing a contract with one of them. We are also currently in the process of forming an LLC.
So far some pretty broad themes have emerged. For example, a community house or center that would serve members but also have space for a broader outreach to be available for activities and get-togethers for the local community and beyond. Another topic was the individual residences themselves – how big, how much square footage do we need, what about tiny houses, are people into condo-style attached and stacked housing. And then the land itself - how much agricultural acreage, how close to a town, what part of the county.
Of course the more we dig in the bigger and more complicated it gets. We’ve found it exciting, arduous, puzzling, we need a lot of patience but at the center of it all are the relationships that have formed and continue to be discovered. It is an adventure of substance and fantasy - how to create a community in a small but interactively conscious way.