Three Groves Ecovillage

Zoning Hearing Results -- Steps in the Right Direction

OK, I admit it. I wasn’t actually at the Zoning Hearing on Monday. My family and I were on vacation at Disneyworld, and appointments between children and Mickey cannot be denied. Don’t worry; I also did research at Epcot, checking their hydroponics and aquaculture set-ups for potential future use at the ecovillage.

In spite of my absence, things went incredibly well. The short version of the story is that due to a minor issue in the technical proceedings, the Board of Supervisors did not vote on our amendment. However, this is something that our legal counsel expected, and it just means that we will do a second hearing later this summer. The fantastic part of it all was the audience; please accept our huge and heartfelt thank you to all of our supporters who showed up and said incredibly kind and wonderful things.

I am very eager to attend the next hearing, but here’s the gist of what happened.

The Zoning Hearing is a formal legal proceeding, with witnesses sworn in and exhibits presented. The township counsel introduced the proceedings, and then our legal counsel took over the presentation with a summary of the changes to zoning that we proposed. The version of the zoning amendment that was under formal consideration was from May, even though there were changes in June, and this was the issue with the technical proceedings that meant that the Supervisors could not vote at the end of all of this.

Our developer Sandy Wiggins, was sworn in as a witness, and presented information on what an ecovillage is, and why changes to zoning were needed. He also discussed why this is the perfect site for an ecovillage, and how we want our zoning amendment to be a model ordinance that can be replicated in other municipalities. Strangely enough, we got a call this very week from a forming ecovillage in Hawaii, wanting to learn more about what we were doing with zoning. I will be thrilled if what we learn can be of assistance there. Zoning is one of the biggest challenges to ecovillages, but once that hurdle is passed, these types of communities quickly become very successful.

After the presentation, the Supervisors asked some questions for clarification, including a request for a list of communities like ours. (See the Directory at Cohousing and the Global Ecovillage Network search for ecovillages.) Then the fun began.

We estimated 50-60 people in the audience. One after the other, our wonderful supporters stood up and told the Board of Supervisors what an amazing opportunity they had to be national leaders in the future of residential green construction. They were more eloquent and profuse in their praise than I could ever be. We had supporters who had visited multiple ecovillages and could attest to how successful they were. We had supporters who asked probing questions and offered potential solutions to the challenges we are having implementing leading edge solutions to sewage treatment. We even had supporters we didn’t know we had—my little bird confessed that he didn’t recognize some of the people who came to speak on our behalf.

What’s next? We make sure we incorporate any last adjustments to the amendment, go through proper process with the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors, and then have another Hearing. We’ll need all of you wonderful people to come to the next Zoning Hearing, probably in August. This time I promise that even Mickey Mouse won’t get in my way of being there.

TGE Goes to our Zoning Hearing-- WE NEED YOU June 28, 2010!

If you support Three Groves Ecovillage, this is the single-most import thing you can do for us all year! Come to the London Grove Township Zoning Hearing on June 28, 7PM at the London Grove Township Building (372 Rosehill Road, West Grove PA).

We have reached a major milestone in all that behind-the-scenes paperwork that one must do when building a community. We have a Zoning Amendment in final form to go to a Zoning Hearing. We want to create an Ecovillage zoning definition that can be used by us and by any future Ecovillages in the Township. Some of the Key Highlights are that it would allow an Ecovillage to:

• Cluster homes to keep more open space to be used by the community.
•  Keep vehicles to the outside edges of the community to foster more interaction between neighbors as we walk to our homes and to create a safe space for children to play.
•  Construct a "Common House" or Clubhouse as a part of the community.
•  Set a high bar for building Ecovillages in a green manner (LEED Gold or better and HERS (Home Energy Rating System) 50 or better).
•  Use a higher density to make this financially feasible.

So where do you come in? On June 28, 7PM at the London Grove Township Building (372 Rose Hill Road, West Grove PA). We need all the supporters we can gather to come to the hearing and be willing to be counted amongst our fans. We especially need you if you reside in London Grove, but even if you don’t, please come. The more people present and in favor of our project, the better we think things will go. The Board of Supervisor (the folks who will be voting at the end of the Hearing) are elected officials, and as such, listen to the voices of their constituents.

We will be sending out reminders to our email distribution and Facebook as we get closer, but please put it on your calendar now. Your presence would help us out a lot.

In the News Again

Here we are, in the news again. The article very nicely describes our design concepts and plans. See us here at the Chester County Press page 3A, or a  copy stored on our own website.

Membership in Three Groves Ecovillage

Now that things are well on their way, we are getting questions about what Membership in Three Groves involves. Since we are trying to build membership, it makes sense to provide a Reader’s Digest version of what is entailed. If you want the full legal document, please email us for it. Don’t worry, it’s written in English, not lawyer-ese. We do want you to read that and understand the whole thing if you are interested in becoming a member, but we’ll start simply. In addition to the Operating Agreement, we have a log of the Meeting Minutes and Decisions that is available for review.

The Financial Stuff

All Full Members of TGE become members in “Three Groves Ecovillage GP, LLC”, a Member-Managed Limited Liability Company. This membership entitles them to fully participate in decisions and design of the community and its bylaws. This entity will exist until we are ready to establish a Home Owners’ Association or Condo Association, and we will create that together. While we exist as an LLC, members will get K-1’s to apply to their personal tax returns. Since we’re not in this to make a profit, you get a loss to write off against your own income.

To apply for membership requires a Capital Contribution of $5,000, and if you want a position on the Lot Selection List, it is an additional $5,000. This is true until June 30, 2010. After that, it goes up to $8,000 and $7,000. Eventually, everyone needs to put in $25,000, but you can do that over time up until we are ready to break ground. Then it is all due. The money will be used to pay lawyers and other professionals, but at closing, the full $25,000 will be credited to you as your down payment on your home.

Other Highlights:

•    We use consensus-decision making and request that members participate actively in creating a sustainable community. We need your help.
•    We indemnify our members who are acting on our behalf.
•    We designate certain members to act as our bookkeeper and to sign contracts with outside consultants.
•    Memberships can be sold with the written consent of all other members.
•    Memberships can be terminated by the Company or the member. Capital Contributions (less $1500) may be refunded or may be treated as a loan at current Prime Rate at the discretion of the Company.
•    If we have to dissolve without building the community, loans are re-paid first and then the remainder pro-rated among members.
•    Some older members appear to have made minimal Capital Contributions to the Company. This is because they made Capital Contributions to our prior legal incarnations. We recognize this in our Meeting Minutes, but not in the LLC Operating Agreement since this money was never on the TGE LLC books.

•    Unlike a normal developer, our developer is not in this for vast amounts of profit. Monies left over at the end of the project will be split 50/50 between the developer and the homeowners. The homeowners will get rebates based on the amounts and timing of their Capital Contributions. Early money gets better rebates.

Again, If you have questions or would like the full copy, please email or call. TGE's phone number is 610-643-4411. Email link is at the top of the left margin.

TGE Open House at Dansko – What a Blast!

  We’re declaring the Three Groves Ecovillage Open House at Dansko a smashing success with almost 100 people in attendance. It was great to see so many old friends, and even more new faces. While I could wax poetically about how great I think it was, I think I’ll let Howard, one of our guests Saturday do it instead. In case you didn’t see his comment on the Invite, he wrote:

 “What a well organized, friendly and informative event! I especially liked Sandy's definition of sustainability: "a state of perpetual vitality supported by resources local to a place". His brief history of the world presentation gave the background to his point that if everyone in the world consumed the resources of Americans today, we'd need three more planets just to accommodate the population today. He did a nice job of showing how we need more good examples, such as ecovillages, for society to look to model more responsible development and consumption patterns. Sandy described how the costs have to be looked at in a broader context than just actual construction. He and Anthony did a nice job explaining how you may pay more for the unit initially, but with the goal of Net Zero Energy, it adds up to considerable savings in the long run. I was also interested when Sandy announced that his company will be starting a bank for mortgage lending to ecovillagers.

“Anthony gave an impressive description of the Three Groves Ecovillage project. Questions were answered honestly based on where the project is currently at. Add to that the great Dansko hospitality and tasty food and beverage, and it was a very impressive outreach event with a good turnout. We'll certainly be back to learn more.”

Special thanks to:
-    All the great folks at Dansko who helped with set-up, AV, food preparation and making sure the Open House ran smoothly. We didn’t even get to meet the ones hiding in the kitchen until the very end.
-    Twelves Grill for the delicious kettle chips, and platters of cheeses and hors d’oevres.
-    The Perfect Cup Café for the cookies, scones, muffins, and of course, the coffee.
-    All the friends of Three Groves for getting the word out, coming early, staying late, and putting in the extra mile to make this happen.
-    All of our guests. You asked great, thoughtful questions.
-    Howard, for unknowingly writing this blog entry, and for standing in last minute for a Q&A Panelist who had to leave before we got to the Q&A part.

Three Groves Ecovillage Open House at Dansko

OPEN HOUSE
SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 2010
3-7 PM DANSKO HEADQUARTERS

Join us for an informative and fun-filled afternoon at Dansko (33 Federal Road, West Grove PA). We invite neighbors to learn about our project to build a green community, setting an international example of what sustainable living can be. We will seek LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification, the highest LEED certification available. Come meet future residents and the developer.

• Keynote Speaker: SANDY WIGGINS
  NET ZERO ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIVE RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT 4 PM
• Followed by ANTHONY AUFDENKAMPE
  THREE GROVES ECOVILLAGE PROJECT
• Q & A SESSION
  Moderated by BOB VANELLA
• TOUR OF DANSKO HEADQUARTERS
  LEED® Gold Certified Building
• WINE & CHEESE RECEPTION
• 10% DISCOUNT AT THE DANSKO COMPANY STORE

RSVP Requested: 610.643.4411 or threegrovesecovillage@gmail.com

Download and share our flyer, or use it as a poster.

January 2010: Paperwork, Planning and Meeting People

I know. We’ve been pretty quiet through the winter. As exciting as it is to be working our way towards building the first LEED Platinum Ecovillage in the country, there are some pretty dull parts, too. We have some excellent lawyers and civil engineers working hard on entitlements, but somehow I equate that sort of thing with doing my taxes…many pages of obscure rules, referring back to “subsection 23, paragraph 3” in a different manual that I can’t find. Our developer, who understands subsection 23 much better than I do, is pleased with our progress.

Until we can do more exciting things like design the homes or break ground, we will be working hard to meet our future neighbors and help everyone understand what Three Groves Ecovillage is. Mark your calendars now, and we will get you more information on the Open House as we have it:

March 27:  Three Groves Ecovillage Open House at Dansko. 3PM to 7PM We’re teaming up with our friends at Dansko to bring you some presentations, a tour of the Dansko LEED Gold facility, and a wine and cheese reception. Our developer Sandy Wiggins will be speaking on “Net Zero Energy and Environmentally Responsible Residential Development”, Anthony Aufdenkampe will be speaking on the status of the Three Groves Ecovillage project, and then we will have a Q&A Panel. We’ll be at the Dansko Headquarters, 33 Federal Road, West Grove, PA 19390. Free event, RSVP requested.

June 5:  London Grove Township “Green Fair and Community Day” 10AM to 2PM, Rain date is June 12.
We will be at this Educational Fair. Come learn about Composting, Lighting Pollution, Energy Efficiency, Recycling, Alternative Energy Sources, Water Conservation, Native Species, Alternative Cleaning Products and much more! Kid’s activities and Food/Beverages will be available. Free event open to the public will be held at the London Grove Township Municipal Field located adjacent to the Township Building at 372 Rose Hill Road, West Grove, PA 19390.

When Are We Breaking Ground?

That’s a question I get a lot lately, right after “Are you going to allow pets?” (Yes, my cats insist on it.) There are still a lot of tasks to accomplish before we ever put shovel to earth, and I think it would help if I outline some of the big ones, and the rough time line for them.

September 2009 – September 2010

We’ll be working on zoning approval as one of our primary tasks. Most zoning does not allow the arrangement of homes that we envision. Overall we feel that we have received positive feedback from the Planning Commission and others, but we still need to follow the rules as to what can be built on the land. We have contracted a lawyer experienced in zoning regulation in this area to assist us.

Our second major task during this time frame is to build our membership. We’ll be doing more presentations and more outreach in general to find those special people who want to live in a community where you actually know your neighbor, and where we demonstrate that living lightly on the planet can be comfortable and beautiful, too. Just in case you are contemplating joining, now is the time to come meet us. Early members get early selection of lots, get to help design the Common House (Clubhouse) and the homes, and can participate in the myriad decisions needed to create this community.

Our third task is to educate the community at large about who we are and what we want to do, and to start getting involved in the local community. It’s important to us that our neighbors are comfortable with the development we plan in their backyards. Cohousers/Ecovillagers tend to be more active than average in the local community, and we hope to start partnering with local organizations to educate local children about the environment, or to hold other events that are beneficial to the community. At the Cohousing Symposium this month, we learned of a coho group who moved into a less-desirable portion of a town, stopped illegal dumping of trash, improved neighborhood safety, and then moved on to eliminating a corrupt school board. We won’t have such Herculean tasks in front of us, but we still think there is a lot we can do for the West Grove/London Grove area.

October 2010 – March 2011

We will be continuing the efforts to build membership and reach out to the community, but the effort to adjust the zoning should now switch to getting planning approval and permitting. We will also be finalizing financing for construction.

April 2011 – September 2012

If all has gone well, we will break ground in April 2011. We will construct in phases, with the first phase built by summer 2011. We will build homes first, and the Common House will be in the last phase.

Someone saw my license plate many months ago, and thought it was a vanity tag for “Ecovillage – July 2011”. I promise that it was just the letter and number combination that the state issued…but maybe there’s something magical to it.

Yes Folks, We Have Land!

It's true, it's true: we own the land now! This post is just to let you, our faithful readers, know that it really did happen. Anthony is preparing a formal Press Release, and will give you all the details. Last I spoke to him, he was swamped at the day job, and wondering if he would ever catch up on sleep.

 

L to R, in the lobby of Dansko: Mike Jenkins of Jenkins Land Transfer, Jackie O'Neil of Aye Partners, Margot Mohr Teetor of ReMax Town and Country, Neil Land of Law Offices of Brutscher, Foley, Milliner & Land, LLP, Mandy Cabot and Peter Kjellerup of Three Groves Ecovillage, Edna Lamborn - seller, Janet Pelletier of Three Groves Ecovillage, Ann Pewelow - Edna Lamborn's daughter, and Anthony Aufdenkampe of Three Groves Ecovillage.

August Update

We’re on the final countdown to acquiring the land, so things are getting very exciting here. We have completed our Due Diligence, and are awaiting the results of one final test. (The preliminary report was favorable, so we don’t anticipate a problem there.) The finances are lined up, and we are simply…..WAITING….. until September 1. The landowner is coming in to town to sign the paperwork live-and-in-person, so it should be a fun day. She is so excited that her land will be used in such an innovative way.  I can’t wait to have the pleasure of meeting her.

We are planning a Neighbors’ Dessert and Coffee this Fall so we can meet the surrounding neighbors, get to know them, and address any questions or concerns they might have. We also hope to have a dedicated Township Meeting to do the same, but in a more formal setting.  We encourage anyone with questions to come to one or both of these events. We’ll put things on the calendar as we get a firm schedule.

Three Groves Ecovillage Grows by 50% (wish my stocks would do that)

In just the last few weeks, Three Groves Ecovillage has gone from four Member Households to six. I am pleased to announce that our fifth household is Peter Kjellerup and Mandy Cabot, while our sixth household consists of Joyce and Steve Ford. Peter and Mandy are the owners of the Dansko footwear company, while Steve and Joyce own the Perfect Cup Café in Hockessin, DE. If you are in need of a pair of great shoes or a delicious meal, now you know where I think you should go.

 There are a number of other households studying the legal documents carefully right now, and I expect more members to join before the end of the month. In case you missed it, the price of Membership (with the right to participate in our decision-making) and the price of getting on the Lot Selection List both go up at the end of the month. These fees apply to home downpayments. If you need copies of the documents, let me know using the email link in the margin or if you already have them, my personal email or phone number. As always, if you have any questions, direct them my way and I will give you the answers I have.

It has occurred to us that as the group starts to grow quickly, it will be harder to get to know each other. To help resolve that issue, we are working on a series of little interviews. We’ll post those to the website as we finish them so that you all can get to know us better, too. It kind of reminds me of being back in college and joining a new club. The new members had to study profiles on the older members, and then sit down with them for a little chat and feed back to them what they had learned about them. It’s a great way to build the community before we build the buildings.

Presentation to London Grove Township Board of Supervisors

What an exciting night it was on June 3rd.  The concept of the Ecovillage, which had been shown to the London Grove Township Planning Commission on previous occasions, was being presented at the London Grove Township Board of Supervisors meeting for the first time.  With a preliminary drawing and power point presentation, Anthony Aufdenkampe, a three groves eco-village future homeowner, started the overview of what the homeowners are expressing to be a LEED platinum village. This community will be in the heart of Southern Chester county.   The drawing shows the concentration of the houses, accessible to neighbors using a wandering pathway thru the center of the homes.  It encompasses a central meeting place for all to share.  It embodies a respect for the surrounding property both on and off the site.  The community will also have a large garden, sustaining itself with fresh vegetables in the summer.  In addition, it will host a greenhouse for winter time edibles.  Parking will be on pervious materials, allowing rainwater to infiltrate back to the underground water-table. There is even the probability of a natural, chemical-free swimming pool.

Discussions and questions arose on what LEED actually is and what it means to the community.  As explained, LEED is a green guideline used in conjunction with a set of plans to construct a home.  When you choose LEED, it becomes the handbook to building sustainable home.  For instance, the community should be within walking distance of a town, promoting local businesses.  Its construction practices are cognizant of sensitive surroundings, such as wildlife habitats.  The actual materials are from local suppliers, to cut down on emissions from trucking in supplies.  Scraps are recycled instead of filling a landfill.  Homes are constructed to be energy efficient. It becomes a conscious effort to construct responsibly.

It seems that this community has sparked an interest, as it is different.  It is being driven by a group of future homeowners, something unheard of in a new community.  The group is anxious to supply the township with information, as the process moves forward.  We feel that this is an exciting opportunity that will spot light the local area, with something in today’s world that is complimentary to the surroundings.

Early Membership has its Rewards!

In the wild ride that we've had in the month since getting land under contract and splitting Concord Ecovillage into two legal entities, there has been a lot of time spent on legal documents. Creating a new legal structure for Three Groves Ecovillage was really the easy part, but in addition, we had to revise the Membership Application. While the Membership Application for Concord Ecovillage had to deal with abstracts and fuzzy timelines, all of a sudden, we had the privilege of dealing with concrete realities like real land and a real ProForma (budget).

The Membership Application not only creates part of the legal union between us all, but it also defines many of the privileges and obligations of membership. The Agreements of Sale for our homes will come much later. I'll outline the important points in the Membership Application for you here, and if you want a full copy of it, (or the LLC and LLP documents), please just email us using the Email link in the margin.

1. Each household needs to make a $25,000 downpayment on their house. (A larger downpayment is welcome, too!) The money can be paid over time, up until about Ground-breaking and the signing of the Agreements of Sale (anticipated at August 2010). At that point, it is all due. This money is not escrowed, but instead, is used during development to pay various professionals for their services. The money is therefore at risk.

2. To make up for the risk, there is of course, reward. Early contributors get to participate in our Rebate Program. At the end of the project, money that would normally be profit in the developer's pocket will be split 50/50 with us, the new homeowners. Our half will be rebated to households based on how early they made their downpayment. Earlier downpayments get larger rebates. Later downpayments get no rebate.

3. To further provide incentive for getting money into the project early, placement on the Lot Selection List costs less now, but will soon get more expensive. For example, right now, $2000 is due with the acceptance of a Membership Application, and an additional $3000 means that an applicant is placed in line to select the location and size of his or her home. After July 31, 2009, $5000 is due with the acceptance of a Membership Application, and an additional $5000 is needed for placement on the Lot Selection List. In either case, the full $25,000 downpayment on the home is eventually needed, but the initial sums needed to participate in decisions as a member and to get on the Lot Selection List are less. Amounts go up again after January 31, 2010.

The Membership Application has other information about participating in decision-making, reading assignments, and legal clauses about deaths, dissolution, disclaimers and such. The LLC and LLP documents are hefty tomes drafted by the lawyer and are more about legal structure and doing business as a real estate company. Again, I'm happy to send whatever documents you would like to review. New members are asked to sign the Membership Application and to become Limited Partners of the LLP. Eventually this all turns into a Homeowners' Association, but that is much further down the road.

If you've been contemplating membership, now is the time to join! Again, send us an email if you want to review the documents, and remember that the sooner you join, the better lot and house selection you get. Don't be left behind!

Presentation to the Planning Commission and Financial Commitments

It’s been another busy week, when it becomes difficult to find the time to update everyone. I’m recruiting other bloggers in the group, so hopefully we will be able to give more frequent updates as things start to really hop.

On Wednesday this week, we presented our plans to the London Grove Township Planning Commission. We presented a very preliminary sketch to them to give an idea of the layout and density we want, and overall, they were very receptive. While there are some points that need further clarification, there was a lot of thoughtful nodding going on at the meeting. We discussed forming a committee with them to create an Ecovillage Overlay to address the zoning challenges, and they ended our portion of the meeting by confirming their desire to have us present to the Board of Supervisors on Wednesday next week.  One future neighbor also came to express some concerns and we had a long discussion with him after the meeting to re-assure him on a few points.  It was great that he came so that we can start early to address any issues and keep communications open with all of the neighbors to our future homes. All told, we couldn’t have asked for a better meeting.

The other very exciting news for the week is that we met again with key early investors for the project. At this point, we have enough financial commitment to be able to purchase the land outright at the end of July. To say it so concisely makes it seem like a trivial thing, but understand that this is a huge step forward in making this project work.  Not only does this enable us to purchase the land, but this capital in the project will also be an important factor that banks look at when they determine whether to give us construction loans. We’re off to a great start on the financial aspect of the project, although we know it will still take a lot more capital.

Why the New Name "Three Groves Ecovillage"?

It is very common that when a Cohousing or Ecovillage group finds land, the group splits. There will be those who are willing to commit to the selected location and others who have different criteria. What is perfect to one, is not satisfactory to another. Commute to jobs and schools, desire to live in a certain area, or proximity to family are all factors that affect an individual’s decision to move on a property.

Since last fall, the members of Concord Ecovillage were faced with these issues when we started to focus our efforts on the property on Willow Street in West Grove.  Several members felt that after more than a year of searching for land, that it was our best option to complete our project in a relatively short time-frame.  Other members had hearts set on possibilities near Kennett Square, despite a likely longer time-frame for completion.  At the time, we decided to try maintaining both efforts under the umbrella of one group.  However, it became increasingly clear that eventually we would need two legally and financially distinct organizations once project development began to gear up.  That time has come.

We now have two separate legal and financial structures – Concord Ecovillage will continue to seek to build an ecovillage near Kennett Square PA or Newark DE, and Three Groves Ecovillage will build an ecovillage on the property northwest of the corner of Prospect Avenue (Rt. 841) and State Road in West Grove.  As sister organizations, hope to sponsor joint efforts in the future, and we look forward to a time when there are two ecovillages in southern Chester County.

So what members are in which group? For a time, the Three Groves Ecovillage Founding Members will be carrying memberships in both groups. Eventually, it will probably look like this:

Three Groves Ecovillage Founding Members:

Janet and Vic Pelletier (and kids Kira and Elise)
Anthony Aufdenkampe and Bonnie Dickson (and kids Lily, Ruby and May)
Lane and Leslie TravisDebbie Dehghan

ConcordEcovillage Members:

Tom Hammer and Barbara Pizzala (Founders and Visionaries)
Steve Welzer

Concord Ecovillage Secures Land!

Concord Ecovillage is extremely pleased to announce that 7.5 acres has been secured for an ecovillage a half mile south of downtown West Grove, PA, at the northwest corner of Prospect Avenue (Rt. 841) and State Road. We are extremely enthusiastic about this property!  It has a perfect southern to south-western exposure for harvesting solar energy and is directly across the street from the new 85 acre London Grove Community Park.  It is a walkable half mile to the Library, post office, five restaurants, and other businesses in downtown West Grove, and also about a half mile to the public middle and high schools.  This property is a much better fit for us, in nearly every respect, than the property we considered this fall on the corner of Willow Street and South Guernsey Road.

The name of the neighborhood that we will build on this property will be Three Groves Ecovillage, in honor of the location in London Grove Township, bordering West Grove Borough, and within Avon-Grove School District.  Concord Ecovillage will continue, as a sister organization, to seek to build an ecovillage near Kennett Square PA.  Please read our full update, progress and event listings at www.ThreeGrovesEcovillage.org.

We have a number of upcoming events, and hope that you will join us for some of them:
Sat. May 16.  Visit us at London Grove Green Fair at the community park across the street from our property. Tours of the property will depart from our booth every hour on the hour.  10 am to 2 pm.

Sat. May 16.  Mid-Atlantic Cohousing Bus Tour.  For those of you who have already talked to us, know West Grove, but want to learn more about cohousing, this tour is highly recommended.  Make your reservations soon, there are only a few spots left!

Wed. May 27. Presentation of site and development plan to London Grove Township Planning Commission.  7 pm. 372 Rosehill Road, West Grove PA

Wed. June 3. Presentation of site and development plan to London Grove Township Board of Supervisors.  7:30 pm. 372 Rosehill Road, West Grove PA

Sun. June 7. Public presentation of site and development plan, and monthly potluck. Location TBD, but check back on the calendar.

Help us refine our contact and email distribution list.
Over the last year our contact list has expanded to over 550 email addresses.  If you already received this message via email, you are on our list. If you would like to be on our list, please email us using the link in the margin and let us know. To help us communicate with you more effectively, please let us know to which of the following groups you belong:

• Potential Residents/Homebuyers in Ecovillage
• Municipal Officials/Staff
• Building and Design Professionals
• Local press
• Just interested

We hope to see you soon, and also hope that you will join us in this effort to bring an Ecovillage to Chester County!

All the best,


Concord Ecovillage and Three Groves Ecovillage.

London Grove Township...More Steps Forward.

With further analysis, we've decided that a property in London Grove (very near West Grove and upwind from the mushroom facilities) holds the most promise. We are currently running the numbers and working on a draft ProForma to see how many houses we would need to build to make it work. We're also trying to make those houses a little bigger since the reaction to the Willow Street plan was that the houses were just a little too small. The biggest factors we have to look at are the willingness of the London Grove Township to work with us, the availability of public water, and the price.

We are on the agenda to present to the London Grove Planning Commission meeting on the 25th of February at 7:00 PM. It's open to the public, so please come support us! It will be at the Township Office, 372 Rose Hill Road, West Grove, PA 19390. The response we get there will tell us whether we should proceed to giving a presentation to the Board of Supervisors, hopefully on March 4. In talking to some of the folks at London Grove so far, they have been very excited about the project, and very very supportive. They are enthusiastic about all things green, and would love to have a LEED-Platinum community as a part of London Grove. As we have known for any property we have considered, we will need some help with the zoning to get the tight clustering we want, so their receptivity to us is very key. I think we're off to a good start here.

The second big factor is water. To be LEED-certified, we cannot just drill wells to get our drinking water; we need access to public water. We're on the trail of that, with calls in to the DEP, and the thought that lines could be extended to the property from West Grove or from the neighboring township. Both seem pretty close, but this will be a factor in cost and timeline, and we have to make sure that things look acceptable.

For the third factor, we are in discussion with the owner on the price. We have a number of creative options up our sleeves to make this work; some are options that we thought up, and some of them are things the owner has come up with. We are hopeful that with a little time and thought, we can come up with an agreement that is a win for everyone.

Land Quest, Re-Newed.

People always say that things work out for the best in the end. That was hard to see when we walked away from the Willow Street land in West Grove, but it's really really true. After I posted the "No Go...This Time" entry, the most wonderful thing started happening: landowners started approaching us and asking if we might be interested in their land. Not that their land was officially on the market, just that they wanted to sell, and more importantly, they wanted to sell to us because they believed in our project. It's a fantastic feeling to realize how many people have been quietly rooting for us, watching and waiting for the chance to push the project along in some way.

Tuesday found us in a long caravan of cars traipsing through the snow to look at a number of properties in the Kennett Square and West Grove areas. We had three kids along, who took the opportunity at every stop to play with their buckets in the snow and leave little snow castles dotted across the county. Of the properties we saw, we eliminated some from the running as being too difficult to develop. The remaining two are both great choices, but we need to do a little more investigation and number crunching before extending an offer on either.  At this stage, we can't tell you much about the properties except in generalities. The two properties in the running are both larger than the Willow Street property, and both have nice sections of a stream or creek. They are less walkable than Willow Street, but easily bike-able to various amenities, and both have great school systems.

While we were looking at the properties in London Grove Township, we got to meet Steve Brown (Township Manager), Rhona Klein (Special Projects/Recycling Coordinator) and Shane Kinsey (Code Administration Officer). What a great group of people! They were very excited to learn about our project and to make sure we understood just how eager they were to have a LEED-certified project in the township. We were very happy to learn just how welcome we would be if we choose a London Grove property.

No Go...This Time.

Well, the realities of the economic downturn got us this time. After much research and crunching of numbers, we determined that the total cost of doing the project on the Willow Street property in West Grove would result in higher home prices than could be competitive in the local market. We managed to get many of the line items in our total estimate down, but some of the biggies that were specific to this property couldn't be budged. So regrettably, we are walking away from the Willow Street property.

The good news is that we are not back to square one by any stretch of the imagination!  We are more convinced that ever that this project can work in our area when we find the right property. We have met so many people who really want this project to happen and can help, that it will be only a matter of a little time before we have located the right property for us. Our developers, Sandy and Jackie have reassured us that they are 110% dedicated to this project, and will stay with us and help us find the next property. Our real estate agent Margot has already started to pull additional information on a property or two that we have spotted in the area. We have a really dedicated team, and a lot of interest generated in the community.

We will re-group in the next week or two to determine updated criteria for what we want in a new piece of land. We'll be considering (sometimes conflicting!) criteria such as open space, walkability to a small town, whether approvals are already in place, how ecovillage-friendly the local government seems, school systems, and of course, affordability. We'll keep you posted as we determine what priorities are now most important to us. The things that haven't changed are that we want to be able to build 30-40 homes, and to be within the southern-Chester County PA or maybe northern New Castle County DE area.

YOU CAN HELP! If you know of a property that may be of interest to us, please help us to connect with the owner. We have leads on some properties, but are also very interested in suggestions at this time.

Stick with us. We're not out of the game, just back by a couple points.

50+ People at our Monthly Meeting and Potluck

Tonight we had an outstanding validation of the widespread appeal of our project. Six and a half weeks after signing the agreement of sale on the Willow Street property in West Grove, we had over 50 adults (and about a dozen children) attend our monthly potluck and meeting. They came from as far as northern New Jersey to hear about our plans to build the first zero-net energy, LEED-Platinum certified ecovillage and cohousing neighborhood in the USA. They enjoyed home baked cookies and brownies and listened to a compelling 75 minute presentation by Equity Member Anthony Aufdenkampe and our development partners, Sandy Wiggins and Jackie O'Neil. They asked lots of thoughtful and pertinent questions, and discussed our plans with us well into the evening.

If you missed the meeting, or attended and would like to share our exciting plans with family or friends, please download our presentation, in PDF format (hit control-L for full screen slideshow).

• Download Presentation-toCEV-20081207-v3-Part1 (4.6 MB)
• Download Presentation-toCEV-20081207-v3-Part2 (8.7 MB)

(Sorry, outdated presentations have been removed.)

Sandy's calculation of the cumulative savings and net present value of a zero-net energy home are particularly interesting.  In short, using typical home energy usage, current energy costs, and a very reasonable estimate that energy costs will escalate by 6% annually, Sandy calculated that cumulative savings would be $349k over the span of a 30 year mortgage (with different assumptions, his estimates ranged from $150k-$699K). The net present value of these savings is around $75k (possible range of $37k-$135k).  In other words, buying a $350k home in Concord Ecovillage gives the equivalent investment value of a $425k conventional home.  In addition, some banks are now beginning to consider this value, and will qualify a buyer for a $350k Concord Ecovillage home who would only qualify fo ra $276k conventional home.

Unveiling our Site Plans

This last week was very exciting, because we unveiled our draft site plans to our membership and also the West Grove Borough Council.

On Sunday, Nov. 2 we brought over a dozen members and potential members of Concord Ecovillage to the property for a site walk in the afternoon, then headed over to Kennett Friends meeting house for our monthly potluck where we were joined by another dozen more people.  It was by far our largest potluck of the year!

Our developers, Sandy Wiggins and Jackie O'Neil, and I presented to the group a powerpoint slideshow describing the concepts of ecovillages, cohousing and green building, our guiding principals for this project (Touchstones), and our freshly drafted site sketch plan.  In all, our core members were very excited to see our plans solidifying into architectural sketches, and the presentations and discussions generated substantial interest with newcomers.

On Wed, Nov. 5, Sandy Wiggins and I presented a shorter version of the slideshow to the West Grove Borough Council at their monthly meeting.  The purpose of this meeting was to describe the site design considerations that are central to ecovillages and cohousing neighborhood, in order to get general support for our site plan, which we knew would violate many zoning codes. 

The Council was very open, if not enthusiastic, about our proposed project and site plan, as were many other supportive people in the audience.  The council offered to work actively with us to develop a new zoning ordinance or overlay that would allow us to build our site plan.  This was the very best outcome we could have hoped for, and all of us left with huge grins on our faces!

Working on Sketch Plans

The most exciting meeting I think I've ever had was yesterday at the Manyunk office of Re:Vision Architecture. Note that I'm not generally a fan of meetings, but this one was different. Not only was the effort a collaborative gathering of very dedicated minds, but we got the first chance to see sketches of proposed layouts for our community. Everyone had something to contribute, and we took the great ideas that the architects brought to the table, and made them even better. The sketch that results from this meeting will be used at the November 5th meeting with West Grove Borough where we orient them on what an ecovillage is (or isn't), and what we need for zoning.

Jenn Rezeli (Re:Vision)
presented different options
and we all weighed the
pros and cons of each.

Leslie and Lane Travis
contemplated the
different plans.

JP Brokken (Re:Vision),
Sandy Wiggins, and
Anthony Aufdenkampe. There
was a lot of serious thinking
going on.

Jenn, Anthony, Scott Kelly (Re:Vision)
and Janet Pelletier examine a
natural pebble treatment for
shower floors.

Walking our land with Rep. Art Hershey

 On Thursday, October 23rd we had a Land-Walk on the Willow St. property in West Grove,Pa. We had gathered to introduce State Representative Art Hershey to our Concord Ecovillage project. We were sharing with Rep. Hershey, our goal of "LEED" certification. LEED stands for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System, which is a third-party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance "green" buildings.

Buildings that are LEED certified have taken into consideration such things as water and energy saving measures, reduced construction waste, the selection of renewable or "green" building materials and the attention to indoor air quality. Art was very supportive of our project; and has offered to help us in any way possible. He also will be looking into State funded grants for solar power to move us toward our goal of "Net-Zero" energy. Art Hershey is also a farmer and long-time advocate of agricultural land preservation. As we stood in the sunny meadow that morning, he commented on how great the soil must be, judging from the clumps of rich, green grass. I suspect he's a guy who would know.

In attendance were ( pictured, left to right ) Developer Sandy Wiggins, our Real Estate agent Margot Mohr-Teetor, Rep. Art Hershey, Developer Jackie O'Neil; and equity-member and future home-owner Lane Travis. Our picture was graciously taken by friend Gwen Lacy, Executive Director of Kennett Land Trust .

Picture yourself here too. We have a few houses left. One might be yours.

Meetings with Borough on General Ecovillage Site Design Considerations

In the last week I've had the pleasure twice of meeting Officials of West Grove Borough to discuss our project to build Pennsylvania's first Ecovillage within walking distance of their downtown.  The purpose of these meetings was to initiate discussions about the site design considerations that are central to all ecovillages and cohousing neighborhoods.  Both conversations were very encouraging.

On Monday, Margot Mohr Teetor, our realtor, and I met with Thomas Lowry, West Grove's Zoning Officer.  I handed him an info packet that included:

• A summary that we put together of the important site design considerations for ecovillages (Download SiteDesignConsiderations_v1.pdf).
• A recent article from the Seattle Times that describes that demand and sales of "green" homes or  homes in cohousing neighborhoods are bucking recent downtrends, and are in fact growing.
• An exellent article from Fine Homebuilding (A Deliberate Neighborhood, 2001; or republished in a book, or email me for a photocopy) that describes how Island Cohousing worked in close partnership with the local planning commission to develop new cohousing-friendly zoning ordinances.

Our conversation wove through many of the important points in these articles and ended with a nod from Tom that he personally felt that our project goals sounded worthwhile, but added that a new zoning ordinance would be needed.  His advice:  convince the Planning Commission and Council of the value of this project to the entire Borough, then partner with him as a consultant to work on drafting new zoning ordinances to present to the Planning Commission and Council.

On Wednesday, Sandy Wiggins and Jackie O'Neil, our development partners, Margot Mohr Teetor and I met with Borough Employees and Officials, Sharon Nesbit (Borough Manager), Joe Colon (Councilperson), and Janet Paterson (Chairman of the Planning Commission).  I passed out the same information packet plus a copy of the excellent DVD "Building Sustainable Communities for Today's Housing Market" that was just produced by Mid-Atlanic Cohousing.  Our conversation covered much of the same ground.  It appeared that all were very open if not enthusiastic about our general concepts, but they also cautioned that we would need to present our site sketch plan with a detailed list of deviations from current zoning, so that we could efficiently partner in developing new ordinances with the fewest number of iterations.

All in all, these meetings were an excellent start to our emerging partnership with West Grove Burough to build the first Ecovillage in Pennsylvania.

Agreement of Sale!

One more step has been completed in our journey. Today, the Agreement of Sale was signed for the land. This means that our 60-day Due Diligence has officially started. We'll be working with West Grove Borough officials on regulations, working with the architects for sketches and plans, and reaching out for folks like you and me who want to be a part of this. Believe me, that last one is very important. We need you!

Up unitl now, we had been quoting a "well-known" statistic that only 10% of co-housing communities actually get to build. Turns out that the quote was wrong. The quote was actually that 10% of Intentional Communities build, and the source was Diana Leafe Christian in her book Building a Life Together. However, she acknowledges that the statistics for Cohousing communities are much better. In fact, Chuck Durrett estimates that 30% of cohousing communities get to build. You can see Ms. Christian's comments here. That statistic of 30% of course includes the communities that never even get as far as signing an Agreement of Sale, and the ones that never find really fantastic and dedicated developers like we have. Historically, co-housing or ecovillages have not been able to find developers; that is a more recent turn that significantly increases the chances of success for more recent efforts.

Our chances of success are going up by the moment. Come help us, and they get even better.

Solar Tour and Other Fun on Oct 19

What an exciting day! We started out in Perkiomenville for a tour of Jackie O'Neil's solar home. It's just over 2000 square feet of the most comfortable space you can imagine. The entire house is bright and warm; even though the Fall day was cool, the sun shining in had warmed the house to 70F by mid morning. The house has 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, a very comfortable kitchen/dining/living area, and a loft-study where I am sure I would spend all my time. The yard was naturalized, with a beautiful meadow and casual stone and gravel pathway to the frontdoor. We were very pleased to have such a great showing of new and old friends, too! A total of 17 adults and a half dozen kids were there, including people who saw our flyers in the health food store, folks some of us knew from our workplace, and folks from Altair, a community  based out of Phoenixville, PA.

After the tour and a delightful lunch at Mr. Lee's, some of us continued on to tour our land, and were met there by experts in stream ecology and restoration. Alas, we were not quick enough to get a picture of one of them on his knees at the edge of the little ditch/stream, up to his elbows in thick muck. He was trying to find the bottom, but mostly, it looked like mud and more mud. Hopefully we can get a better idea of whether it is feasible to move the stream, or whether we need to restore it in place.

Finally, we continued onward to an informative presentation by John Lodise who is a Senor Loan Officer at Bryn Mawr Trust. They have in-house mortgages, so have more flexibility to think outside of the box. We talked about whether he could factor in the fact that we would have no power bills (yes), and how we could get comps for our very unique houses. He was very excited to meet the group and helped us understand what we each needed to do to prepare our own finances for our big purchases. He has offered to consult with folks individually, but of course, there is no obligation.

If you're sorry you missed the fun, join us on November 2 when we will have another land walk and a presentation from our developer. Stay tuned!!