Green entrepreneurs plan cohousing site
They’re buying land and are going through processes of rezoning, feasibility study
Utopia may have finally come to Vancouver, or at least a chance at it for communityminded homebuyers.
A group of socially conscious B. C. entrepreneurs in partnership with California- based architect Charles Durrett has purchased land on 33rd Ave. near Victoria Drive and hopes to launch Vancouver’s first cohousing community.
Cohousing features privately titled homes, townhomes or apartments, with a strata, and common gathering spaces, such as a community kitchen, guest accommodations and gardens, that encourage neighbourly contact and a village feel.
Durrett, author of The Senior Cohousing Handbook ( New Society), coined the term “cohousing” and has designed and consulted on more than 50 cohousing communities around the globe.
Vancouver has been difficult for grassroots cohousing startups because of the high cost of land, Durrett said in an interview from California.
Now Durrett, along with award- winning green developer Alan Forrester and local co- housing experts Yonas Jongkind, Vivian and Paul Vaillant and Alan Carpenter, have pooled resources to buy the land, and give cohousing in Vancouver a “developer-assisted start.”
The next hurdle is a feasibility study, the intricate process of rezoning applications and winning city and neighbourhood support for approximately 20 units on two extra- deep lots at 1729 and 1733 East 33rd Avenue. The land is now zoned for single- family housing.
Forrester will be driving the development process with Durrett as lead architect. “Cohousing is about creating communities that offer opportunities for people to connect,” said Forrester. “This is about social sustainability. It’s a good model and it makes sense in so many ways.”
Once everything is in place, buyers will purchase the project from the development group. Durrett, the Vaillants, Jongkind and Carpenter will facilitate workshops and guide buyers on everything from site design to blueprints to getting it built.
Forrester anticipates the units will be “market value” once completed. Buyers participate in the design process, deciding together on everything from the look and function of common spaces — hot tubs, music rooms, bike storage, community gardens — and individually on their private spaces.
“They can design one-, two-, three- bedroom units, whatever they want,” he said, adding that features like common guest accommodations can reduce both footprint and cost.
The development will probably be geared to seniors ( 55- plus), Forrester said, but the group has other familyfriendly Vancouver cohousing projects planned.
Cohousing provides unique opportunities for residents to build strong relationships with fellow owners even if everyone doesn’t always get along, said Durrett.
“People that come to cohousing are looking to live with other people, they are willing to be human and let other people be human. It’s time for people not to live in isolation any more.”
Durrett spoke about cohousing last night at the WISE Hall in east Vancouver.