General Questions
Q: What is an ecovillage?
Q: What is cohousing?
Q: What is the difference between an ecovillage and cohousing?
Q: How do ecovillages differ from other "intentional communities?"
Q: We'd like to live in a cohousing group just with people that are all… teachers/musicians/older folks/artists/single moms....
Q: What should I do next if I am interested in exploring membership in Concord Ecovillage?
Questions Specific to the site
Q: What is “building green”, and how green will our homes be?
Q: What kind of houses will be built?
Q: Are homes going to be expensive?
Q: Are you doing all this yourselves?
Q: Will the community be near a small town?
Q: How large will the ecovillage be, and what kinds of households will live there?
Social, Safety and Family Aspects
Q: What will the advantages be for children living in a cohousing community or ecovillage?
Q: What about safety and security in general?
Q: Please tell me about common meals.
Q: What is the Common House or Club House for?
Q: How are people selected to be members of Concord Ecovillage?
Q: What is “aging in place”?
Ownership and Investment
Q: How is home ownership legally structured in cohousing communities?
Q: What if I want to or have to move out of the community and sell my unit?
Q: Will my initial investment be at risk?
Q: I can't afford to (or don't want to) buy into Concord Ecovillage. Are rental units available? What about affordable housing?
Q: What is an ecovillage?
A:
Ecovillages are communities of
people who strive to live a sustainable lifestyle in harmony with each
other, other living beings and the Earth. Their purpose is to combine a
supportive social-cultural environment with a low-impact lifestyle.
From Ecovillage Living by Hildur Jackson & Karen Svensson.
Q: What is cohousing?
A:
Cohousing communities combine the
advantages of private homes with the benefits of more sustainable
living, including shared common facilities and ongoing connections with
neighbors. These intentional neighborhoods, created and managed by
residents, offer an innovative solution to today's environmental and
social challenges. From Cohousing.org
Q: What is the difference between an ecovillage and cohousing?
A:
The terms often overlap, and we tend to use the terms interchangeably.
Not all ecovillages are cohousing communities, and vice versa. However,
many are both, including ours. Ecovillages tend to primarily emphasize
on environmental sustainability and cohousing communities tend to
primarily emphasize social sustainability.
Q: How do ecovillages differ from other "intentional communities?"
A:
Some people involved with ecovillages or cohousing like to describe their communities
as "intentional neighborhoods," rather than "intentional communities."
This is probably because the term "intentional community" frequently
connotes a shared religious, political or social ideology rather than
simply the desire to have much more of a sense of community with their
neighbors, some of whom might be quite different from themselves.
Concord Ecovillage espouses no particular ideology.
Q: We'd like to live in a cohousing group just with people that are all… teachers/musicians/older folks/artists/single moms....
A:
We are actively seeking diversity of all kinds in Concord Ecovillage;
we want to live in a community with others who are not just like
ourselves.
Q: What should I do next if I am interested in exploring membership in Concord Ecovillage?
A: Make
sure we have contact information for you. Come to meetings and get to
know our group.Sometimes we have small group information sessions in
local coffee shops. Explore cohousing groups on the Web and as soon as
you can, visit some completed communities. Join our Yahoo group. We can
also suggest several books on cohousing that would be very informative,
and we have a video that you can borrow which interviews people living
in cohousing around the country.
Questions Specific to the site
Q: What is “building green”, and how green will our homes be?
A: Our goal is to build "net-zero-energy" homes that use
on-site solar thermal and solar electric energy generation for all
lighting/heating/cooling needs. Homes will be hyperinsulated and
employ hyper-efficient ground-coupled "geothermal" heat pumps for
heating and cooling. We will also fulfill other sustainability
criteria to become LEEDS-platinum certified, and we may even take up the Living Building Challenge.
Q: What kind of houses will be built?
A:
We will have smaller than average homes so we can live more lightly on
the land, and because some of our needs (for example, guest rooms) will
be met by the Club House. All units will have the typical rooms and amenities you
would expect in any other home. We plan to build homes that are highly
energy efficient,
using durable quality materials, and probably using geothermal heating
and cooling. We plan to embrace the concept of "Simple but Quality" to
help keep construction costs down, and have a community solar array on
the detached garage roofs. The kitchens will probably be at the front
of the houses, looking out on the common walkway. Homes will most
likely share at least some walls, again to keep costs down and improve
energy efficiency.
Q: Are homes going to be expensive?
A:
We intend to be competitive with the local non-green market. The important thing to remember though,
is that you get much more than just your own home. You would own a
share of the Common House, the solar array, and the grounds. In
addition, these homes will be much more efficient, and therefore cost
much less than is typical to heat and cool. The developer has offered
to do a Time Value of Money calculation to demonstrate that the costs
of the homes up front is an investment in savings in the future.
Q: Are you doing all this yourselves?
A:
No, we are in frequent consultation with experts in cohousing from all
over the country by phone, email, and in person. We have attended
National Conferences and are a member of Mid Atlantic Cohousing, a
consortium of cohousing communities in the Washington, D.C. area.
Additionally, we are partnering with a developer to further ensure
success. See our Project Team page to meet all the wonderful people who are helping us on this journey.
Q: Will the community be near a small town?
A:
Walkability is one of our core values, so it is very likely that our community will be in or on the edge of a small town.
Q: How large will the ecovillage be, and what kinds of households will live there?
A:
Our community will be 30-40 homes so the
community will be large enough to have plenty of children to play
together. Communities like ours attracts a wide range of household types, for
example: single people of all ages, couples and single parents of
infants, toddlers and school-aged children, couples whose children are
grown, and young couples without children.
Social, Safety and Family Aspects
Q: What will the advantages be for children living in a cohousing community or ecovillage?
A:
Many! Communities like ours are very safe because of their design with
many homes facing the central green walkway. No cars are allowed there,
so it’s a safe place to play, and there are many eyes on the children.
Strangers are immediately noticed. Many co-housers let their children
roam freely around the neighborhood because most people in the
community interact with and watch out for the children. The variety of
skills and interest in one’s neighbors means that there are many adults
to teach skills that the parents might not have. Some communities have
home schooling opportunities, also.
Q: What about safety and security in general?
A:
Because we know all our neighbors, we will have an excellent
neighborhood watch system as a natural part of our community. "All eyes
on the common areas" means that some cohousers even feel very
comfortable leaving their front doors unlocked. Cohousing communities,
by their nature and design, are probably among the safest kinds of
communities in the country.
Q: Please tell me about common meals.
A: Cohousing communities usually prepare between two and four meals per week in their Common House. The meals are prepared by a team of 2-4 persons for however many diners sign up in advance for the meal. Eating common meals is always voluntary. In a few communities cooking is also voluntary, but in some cases it is not. There is a good deal of variation in the way the cooking and cleanup responsibilities are structured. Typically, each adult is involved in meal preparation and/or cleanup once every 4 or 5 weeks. There is also variation in how the common meals are paid for, but one only pays for the meals one eats. Many communities encourage their cooks to provide a vegetarian option at most meals, and special food requirements are respected, although not every one of them will necessarily be accommodated at every meal.
We feel that common meals are one of the “glues” that hold cohousing communities together. A common meal may be the only time in a busy week when we get to have a real conversation with our neighbors. And if we are lucky enough to have a little extra time for some after-dinner coffee or tea and conversation, while the kids romp around, so much the better.
Q: What is the Common House or Club House for?
A: Besides preparing and sharing common meals, we envision areas to gather for spontaneous musical events or planned parties, guest rooms, a play area for children, space for discussion groups, a game room, possibly a workshop and a greenhouse, and so forth. Maybe there will even be a hot tub or a community swimming pool.
Q: How are people selected to be members of Concord Ecovillage?
A: People select themselves. We presently require attendance at several regular meetings, and ask for some involvement with a committee before a household can apply for membership. We have levels of memberships that require less in the way of a financial contribution but do give potential Equity Members the chance to participate in the planning process and to get to know others in the group. An Equity membership requires an equity investment, all of which we intend to be eventually credited toward the final price of your house. These equity investments are, in a sense, a way of making your downpayment on your unit in small steps, before closing on your home.
Q: What is “aging in place”?
A: At
least some of the homes will use universal design, which will mean that
as we age, we will be able to stay in our homes as long as possible.
Also, people in completed cohousing communities tell us that older
residents enjoy enthusiastic support and care from the younger
residents. Many of us hope to never have to move to a retirement
community or nursing home.
Q: How is home ownership legally structured in cohousing communities?
A: Most cohousing communities are either structured as condominiums (meaning the legal concept, not a physical design) or planned unit developments. In what is called the "lot development model," members jointly own the common property and facilities and are the sole owners of the lot on which they build their own single family house. Sometimes they own just the land directly under their homes (the footprint) or that plus a small back or front "private" yard. We haven’t decided on our home ownership structure yet.
Q: What if I want to or have to move out of the community and sell my unit?
A: Any household leaving the community can legally sell their property to anyone they choose, but Concord Ecovillage may decide to maintain a "right of first refusal," which means that the seller must offer his or her unit for purchase by the community or to people within the community to match a price offered by someone on the open market. In other communities, residents sign a voluntary agreement that they will not lease or sell their unit to a person or persons who do not wish to participate fully in the community. Some communities maintain a waiting list of people interested in being informed if a unit becomes available, and it is to the benefit of the seller and to the rest of the community if everyone lends a hand in finding new owners. When it comes to resales, experience has shown that homes in cohousing have held their value or have appreciated faster than the market as a whole.
Q: Will my initial investment be at risk?
A: Early money is more at risk than money put in later. That is why there are large inducements to the earliest investors, such as special offers, high rates of interest, and site selection priority.
Q: I can't afford to (or don't want to) buy into Concord Ecovillage. Are rental units available? What about affordable housing?
A: There are several possibilities here. If some people want to own a home and rent it back out, that is certainly an option. Another option would be that one family might help another with a down payment. In this situation the unit might be held by these families as joint tenants or tenants-in-common. A third option would be that one person or household could own the unit and others sharing the home would be renters. There is no community that we know of in which the homeowner's association owns a unit and rents it out, though some communities have an apartment or two as part of the common house. In Concord Ecovillage we plan that some units will be smaller than others and therefore more affordable.
Renting residents usually have all the same rights and responsibilities as owners except in matters relating to expenditure of large amounts of money. Typically, renters are welcome to attend meetings and participate fully in discussions of community matters, but usually they cannot block consensus.
