***Revised November 2011
General Questions
Q: What is an ecovillage?
A: Eco-villages 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. Over 200 have been successfully completed in the USA the last 25 years, and many times that world-wide. Over a dozen development/architecture firms specialize in building these communities, and many more books have been published on the subject of how to create ecovillages and sustainable communities.
Q: What is cohousing?
A: Co-housing communities combine the advantages of private homes with the benefits of more sustainable living, including shared common facilities and ongoing connections with neighbors. These neighborhoods, created and managed by residents, offer an intergenerational, friendly atmosphere that is safe for children and conducive to visiting with neighbors -- in short, an innovative solution to today's environmental and social challenges.
Q: What is Three Groves Ecovillage?
A: We are both an eco-village and a co-housing community. We are a group of local residents who have partnered with a nationally acclaimed green building developer to create a 7.5 acre community of 37 individually-owned 1 to 4 bedroom homes on the south edge of West Grove, PA. Our pedestrian-oriented community of small clusters of townhomes will be centered around a Common House with gardens, play area, guest rooms and a large kitchen/dining area. Units will be designed with Aging in Place in mind. There will be a bedroom and a full bath on the first floor of every unit. Although not every unit will be fully accessible given the slope of our land, we will have some that should accommodate most needs.
We are located ½ mile from downtown West Grove, walkable to the library, schools, the Post Office, restaurants, the SCCOOT bus stop, and across the street from 125-acre Goddard Community Park, and more. We are actively seeking diverse new members. We hope to build about 37 units, ranging from 1 to 4 bedrooms so that we can attract all types of families. Our members range in age from 5 to 81.
Q: What should I do next if I am interested in exploring membership in Three Groves Ecovillage?
A: Make sure we have contact information for you. Come to meetings and get to know our group. Check our calendar for the next meeting or event where you can find us. Explore cohousing groups on the Web and as soon as you can, visit some completed communities. 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. If you are ready for the next step after that, ask for a copy of our LLC Operating Agreement.
Q: How does Three Groves make decisions?
A: During our early phases, we are using consensus for some decisions, and delegating other decisions that need to be made rapidly during development. We will likely use a similar convention as we mature into a community, with authority delegated to teams for specific areas (like landscaping or maintenance of the Common House), and consensus for the major decisions. We do have a fallback of voting, but have never had to use it. In truth, we want to get more training on consensus. We have great value for it, but not as much knowledge or experience using it as we would like.
Questions Specific to the West Grove 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 designed for comfort and beauty. Solar panels will generate at least as much energy as we consume, feeding it into the grid during peak cost periods and drawing it out at night during periods of lower cost. We will also use durable and recycled materials with low/no VOCs and will seek LEED-platinum certified. (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design http://www.usgbc.org)
Q: What kind of houses will be built?
A: We will have modest-sized, attached homes so we can live more lightly on the land, and because some of our needs (like guest rooms) will be met by the Common House. We will have plans with 1, 2, 3 or 4 bedrooms. All units will have the typical rooms and amenities you would expect in any other home. We plan to embrace the concept of "Simple but Quality" to help keep construction costs down, and have a community solar array. The kitchens will probably be at the front of the houses, looking out on the common walkway. Homes will be clustered, with the atmosphere of a small hamlet tucked into the hillside.
Q: What will all this cost me?
A: We will have updated home prices soon, based on actual designs and current construction costs. Prices will range from the low $200,000's to the low $400,000's. There will be monthly or quarterly community or association fees, but again, we need to do studies to calculate appropriate figures for those.
Status and Next Steps
Q: What is Three Groves doing right now?
A: Our major efforts are:
Finishing Design: We have spent the summer of 2011 working closely with our architects to design the homes, and the exact layout of the land.
Outreach: We will be having tables at a number of fairs and planning a number of smaller efforts to help find those special people who want to live in a community like ours. (Check our calendar!) It is important for us to build membership and strength in order to be able to break ground. We need 13 member households to get the next installment of investor equity.
Q: When will you break ground?
A: We hope to break ground in summer 2012, with phased construction through 2012 and 2013. Click on the Dashboard to see the details.
Q: I am a professional, and would like to work to build Three Groves. Do you need a builder, plumber, electrician…?
A: We are eagerly collecting the names and qualifications of all professionals who are interested in working on the Three Groves project. Send your contact information to us and we will add it to our files to use when we are ready to request proposals. We’d obviously like to support the local green economy as much as possible. At this time, we have a realtor, architect, engineer, landscape designer, and lawyers.
Ownership and Community Life
Q: How will home ownership be legally structured in Three Groves?
A: We will be a Home Owners Association, but without the rigid and detailed rules that you find in many HOAs. Our "Covenants" will actually be written as a much more fluid Policy and Procedure document that can be changed at will by the community. Only the basic structure and legally required provisions will take greater effort to change. If you are concerned about rules, please help us write them. We don’t want them to be burdensome, but we do anticipate needing a few rules just so we’re all straight on what we can or cannot do.
Q: What if I want 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. We intend to 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: Can I rent my home? Can I get a rental home in Three Groves?
A: Certainly. We are hopeful that several homeowners will want to rent their homes out since it gives the community better economic diversity. Renting residents will have all the same rights and responsibilities as owners except in matters relating to expenditure of large amounts of money.
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 community swimming pool.
Q: How are people selected to be members of Three Groves Ecovillage?
A: People select themselves. We presently require attendance at several regular meetings, and ask for some involvement before a household can apply for membership. A membership requires an equity investment, which will eventually be credited toward the final price of your house. These equity investments are a way of making your downpayment on your unit and getting operating capital during the early phases of development.
Q: What if I become a member of Three Groves, and then decide it’s not for me before the houses are built? Can I get out?
A: Yes, there are two options. The first is that you may sell your membership to an incoming member, transferring the credit you have with Three Groves and your position (if any) on the Lot Selection List. The second option is to wait until the end of the project when we can pay off the Promissory Note(s) that were signed when you made Capital Contribution(s).
Q: Please tell me about common meals.
A: Communities like ours 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.
