Q: What is the anticipated development timeline for Phase 2?
A: We are currently working through various regulatory requirements, which makes nailing down a timeline difficult. Here is our current very rough, best estimate of the development timeline for Phase 2.
This is probably an ambitious timeline, but we’d rather set ambitious goals and hit them a bit late than set more relaxed goals and hit them a bit late.
Q: How much will Phase 2 homes cost?
A: It is too early to accurately estimate home costs. Home construction costs are currently extremely volatile. We still have some details to work out related to regulatory requirements for roads, water, and sewer. Home construction costs will be dependent on the size of the home, design choices, and prevailing local construction costs at the time we break ground. A very rough estimate of the total home cost as of August 2021 would be in the $450 to $950K range, but with the incredible cost volatility, these numbers are likely to change. For more information, see our Vital Information for Phase 2 Homebuyers webpage.
Q: Where will the Phase 2 homes be located?
A: The Phase 2 homes will be located within the envelope shown on map at right. It is just to the east of the Phase 1 cluster. The Phase 2 cluster will take up about one third of the envelope. The main advantages of that location are:
Q: What kind of homes will be built in Phase 2?
A: We will build homes that are very energy efficient, environmentally responsible (all electric), very high quality, and optimized for solar, just like the Phase 1 homes. To reduce construction costs and hassle for homebuyers, we'll hire one builder to build all of our homes. Various floor plans, options, and upgrades will be available. We will strive to design homes that will allow flexibility for future homeowners to customize and enlarge their homes. The floor plan options will probably range in size from about 1000sf to 2500sf. You can see some Phase 1 home photos in our Photo Gallery.
Q: What will be the minimum home size in Phase 2?
A: It is likely that the architectural guidelines for Phase 2 homes will be very similar to those we used in Phase 1. There's a maximum home size of 3000sf, but no minimum.
Q: Will Phase 2 Homebuyers have any say in their home designs?
A: Yes, absolutely. All Phase 2 Homebuyers will have the opportunity to collaborate with our architect in the design of their homes.
Q: Will there be any duplex homes in Phase 2?
A: No, there won’t be any duplexes in Phase 2 because during the construction of P1 we learned that duplexes are not particularly less expensive to build, not significantly more energy efficient, and significantly less desirable to most homebuyers. Additionally, the Phase 2 lots will be laid out with an east/west orientation, which means that the north unit in a duplex would have no south windows. That’s a nonstarter given our strong commitment to passive solar homes.
Q: How large will the Phase 2 lots be? How large will the front and back yards be?
A: Phase 2 lots will be in a range of approximately 5300sf to 7300sf. An average backyard might be about 55’ x 40’ and a front yard about 55’ x 20’.
Q: What costs should I expect to incur after buying my home in Phase 2?
A: Phase 2 household costs will probably be similar to Phase 1 household costs. Here is a listing of typical Phase 1 household costs:
HOA dues for 2023 (based partially on number of people in household):
Costs for Mac's Phase 1 home (2022 data):
Note that water, septic, trash, recycling, snow plowing, common house upkeep, etc. are all included in HOA dues.
Q: How close will the Phase 2 homes be to each other?
A: The homes will probably be spaced similarly to how the homes are spaced in Phase 1. The three main factors in home spacing are:
Q: Will the existing Phase 1 amenities such as common house, greenhouse, gardens, playground, tennis court, etc. also serve Phase 2?
A: Yes, once Phase 2 is built and Phase 2 members move in, Heartwood will be one big, happy community of 38 households, all with equal ownership of HOA assets and amenities, equal rights and privileges, etc.
Q: Can I work remotely from Heartwood?
A: Yes, absolutely. A large percentage of current Heartwood community members work remotely. We have 50 Mbps high-speed internet available and a great little regional airport. Modern technology allows us to have the best of both worlds – a peaceful, quiet life in the country, close to nature and the ability to work globally.
Q: What internet service is available at Heartwood? Is it reliable?
A: We currently have two providers of high speed internet: CenturyLink and AlignTec. CenturyLink has been here since the beginning, but AlignTec just started providing service to Heartwood within the past few years. CenturyLink provides service through the phone lines and offers service up to maybe 20 mbps. AlignTec provides service via wireless broadcasting and offers service up to 50 mbps. AlignTec seems to be extremely reliable, while CenturyLink has had a history for some households of some reliability problems. Generally speaking, our internet service is probably not what you would find in an urban area, but we have many people here who work from their homes via the internet without a problem.
Q: Why has it taken so long for Phase 2 to be developed?
A: Over twenty years ago when Heartwood Cohousing was forming, we had planned to create two phases, but we ran into some unexpected permitting problems. The highway intersection used to access our land was deemed too dangerous to allow further development. That intersection has now been upgraded so at long last our path is clear to move forward with creating Phase 2.
Q: What design and building professionals do you have in mind? Do you already have ties and relationships with architects, engineers, builders, and other tradespeople such as electricians, plumbers, electricians, solar companies, etc.?
A: We will be working with the architect, Matt Worswick, who did such a wonderful job with our Phase 1 site plan, common house, and production homes. Matt lives in Harmony Village cohousing. He is very familiar with both cohousing and passive solar design. Other than Matt, we will plan to hire a new general contractor for site work and home construction. The general contractor will hire the subcontractors.
Q: Will the homes have plenty of sunlight?
A: Southwest Colorado has lots of sunshine and we will make sure that the site and home designs bring lots of sunshine into every home, for both aesthetics and energy efficiency. All of the Phase 1 homes have great natural sunlight.
Q: What kind of home heating will be used in Phase 2?
A: To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Phase 2 homes will be all-electric (no natural gas). Electricity will be available from the soon to be constructed LPEA solar garden.
All Phase 2 homes will probably use the same type of heating system for economies of scale. The exact system specs are being worked on by our Construction Alternatives Team.
Building basic, good quality systems along with features that create future flexibility was one of the things we did deliberately throughout the Phase 1 production homes (not just the heating systems) and something we will again do with the Phase 2 homes.
Q: How will parking be handled?
A: As in Phase 1, we will build parking lots and carports on the periphery of the pedestrian neighborhood. Phase 2 members will have the option to park for free in the parking lots or purchase one or more carports, which will include a covered place to park and room to store camping gear, bikes, skis, boats, and all those toys that go along with life in SW Colorado.
Q: What criteria will be used to design and build Phase 2 homes??
A: We had architectural standards that homes had to meet during Phase 1. We also have Design Criteria for Phase 2 homes.
There's a section of our covenants which contains the architectural standards for Phase 1 homes. In a nutshell, the architectural standards address:
Design Criteria in Priority Order
Decided at Jan 8, 2022 P2 Zoom Gathering.
The number in parenthesis reflects the number of first place votes each criterion received.
Q: Given that there are a few rentals in Phase 1 and there has been some discussion of including some in Phase 2, what is Heartwood's policy regarding renters being fully participating community members?
A: Before we built Phase 1, we made a big road trip to other cohousing communities to learn what was working for them and what they wished they had done differently. One of the things that one community in particular was not happy about was the large number of renters who did not participate in the community and only lived there for convenience. We decided that we didn’t want that. Everyone living at Heartwood is expected to be a fully participating member. The rights and responsibilities extended to members, whether owners or renters, are identical (except for some rarely invoked voting procedures detailed in the HOA covenants). Please check out our Membership agreement for full details.
Q: Where does Heartwood get its water and will there be enough to serve Phase 2?
A: We get our irrigation water from the Thompson-Epperson ditch. We’ve got very good water rights. The quantity is sufficient to meet our pasture needs and also irrigation water for cluster landscaping. The rights are very senior, which means that in drought years, we are some of the last landowners to have our water usage restricted. The water in the Thompson-Epperson ditch comes out of the Pine River, which flows out of the Weminuche Wilderness area in the San Juan Mountains, north of us.
We get our potable water from five wells on our land. Because our newest well (#5) was drilled down in the pasture, which is low in the watershed, it has proven to be a very strong well. We feel confident that it, along with our other wells, can serve both Phase 1 and Phase 2 so we are not planning to obtain any other water sources for Phase 2.
In June of 2022, as part of our governmental approvals, we hired a hydrogeologic engineer to test well #5. Our anticipated water usage for both Phase 1 and Phase 2 is about 3,200 gallons per day (gpd). Because the regulatory agencies assume a huge daily water consumption per household, we were required to prove that our wells can produce about 14,000 gpd. During the 24 hour pump test well #5 produced about 17,000 gallons. That's a great indication that all four of our wells should be able to provide ample water for the community.
There’s no guarantee that our wells will be able to keep up with demand forever, but the test results were very reassuring. If for some reason, in the distant future, our wells are no longer able to keep up, our fallback plan would be to hook up to the new LAPLAWD water system line down along Hwy 160. That could cost as much as $1,000,000 so we’ll keep using our own wells in the meantime.
Q: Have you considered composting toilets or gray water alternatives?
A: We have done a lot of research into alternative septic systems. Mostly it’s all about meeting regulations. Anything remotely approximating composting toilets or other similar alternatives are unfortunately out of the question. The regulations will only allow very traditional approaches, and even those are very difficult to get approval for.
Q: What are the two gas wells at Heartwood extracting? Who owns them? Are they both active? Is there (or has there) been any effect on the well water quality?
A: There are two gas wells in the northern portion of Heartwood’s land. They produce natural gas. They were owned by BP, but have recently been sold to IKAV, a European renewable energy company. The local BP operations people have switched over and now work for IKAV, which is a good thing because they have been good people to work with.
Unfortunately we don’t own the mineral rights to our land so we don’t collect any royalties. The mineral rights were sold off in the 60’s, well before we owned the land.
We have not noticed any adverse impacts on our water quality or quantity. We are required to do rigorous testing to monitor that, some of which BP pays for. The gas wells are pulling up natural gas from several thousand feet down, but we are getting our water from just a couple hundred feet down so hopefully there is no influence on our water from the gas below.
Q: If we build homes that are more than one story, would it be possible to later add an elevator?
A: It should be possible to design homes that could accommodate a future elevator. It’s also possible that there will even be enough interest amongst Phase 2 Homebuyers to offer an elevator as an option so the home could be built with it in the first place for those who want to have one and pay extra for it.
Q: Are wood stoves allowed at Heartwood?
A: Yes, probably about half the Phase 1 homes have wood stoves. They need to be efficient stoves so they don’t emit too much smoke and soot, but those are easy to find, not expensive, and are better at heating a home.
Q: Will phone lines be extended to Phase 2 homes?
A: We’re not sure yet whether there will be land lines in Phase 2. That will be decided during the design phase.
Q: Is radon an issue at Heartwood?
A: There is some radon here so most Heartwood homes with people sleeping in the basement have radon exhaust fans.
Q: Has Heartwood ever considered ways to increase diversity and social justice?
A: There are many Heartwood members who are working to promote social justice. As a community, we have not specifically attempted to recruit members to increase our diversity, other than currently putting in a little extra effort to recruit families. In general, we attempt to be welcoming of everyone who shows up that’s interested in community.
As you can imagine, increasing diversity is a big issue throughout the cohousing world, given that cohousers tend to be very left leaning. Many communities have worked to increase their racial diversity with frustratingly little success. And that’s in very racially diverse locations, like Washington, DC, San Francisco, etc. Living in an area where pretty much the only racial diversity that exists is the nearby Southern Ute Tribe, we have attracted very little interest from racially diverse people.
One thing to keep in mind is that diversity comes in many, many flavors, not just racial diversity. We have a whole lot of diversity here even though a photo of the community might not make it look like that. We have community members who hold a wide variety of religious or spiritual beliefs. Many members are gay or trans or heterosexual. There are community members from all over the country and from all different backgrounds. We have many jewish families and a hispanic family here. One neighbor grew up in one of those extremely religious societies in Ohio (similar to Amish or Mennonite). The East Coast people approach life in a whole different way from the Midwest or West Coast people. There is a tremendous amount of diversity in the ways that all of us approach life. Because we live in close relationship with each other, the ways that we differ from each other are better understood and appreciated. We proudly fly a rainbow flag out in front of the common house and one of our core values is to welcome expressions of diversity.
Q: Is there a fee to keep large animals in the pasture?
A: The community (HOA) doesn't charge any fees, but does require labor to maintain pasture irrigation, fencing, weed management, etc. in exchange for pasturing animals in the pasture. There are fees required to be paid to the Large Animal Group, which is a private group of large animal owners, for the purchase and upkeep of certain assets that specifically serve large animals, such as water troughs, corrals, etc. If you are interested in keeping a large animal in the pasture, we'd recommend that you get in touch with our Pasture team for more information.
Q: How does farm housing fit into the plan for Phase 2?
A: We own 65 acres of irrigated pastureland, which is a lot of responsibility and work. Back in 2009 we started an organic farm with about a half dozen farm interns supplying the labor. It was a great way to steward our land and grow wonderful produce, but after a couple years the County told us that we were no longer allowed to have interns living in tents. It’s a long story, but the upshot is that we’d like to figure out a way to provide housing for farm labor (maybe a farm manager and interns) that the County would approve.
Part of the goal of the Phase 2 development is to create “farm housing flexibility”, which is to say that as we obtain County approval for Phase 2, we also want to make sure to include some provision for future farm housing. That means getting the County to sign off on a plan that works for them while we’re going through the big Phase 2 approval process anyway. How the housing gets built, paid for, and managed has yet to be worked out. More than likely, it would be some private enterprise. There doesn’t seem to be too much support for the HOA (community as a whole) paying for farm housing or managing it.
So the short answer is that creating farm housing flexibility does not represent an expense for the community, but will hopefully one day create the opportunity to have an organic farm on a larger scale than is currently possible with just volunteers from the community.
Q: Have efforts have been made to bring more families with kids into Phase 2?
A: The Membership team, and the community in general, has spent a fair amount of time talking about bringing more kids back into the neighborhood. We are very excited about doing so and have done several things to encourage it:
These efforts seem to be paying off as we are getting lots more interest from families. Several new families have moved in recently, which is probably the most important factor of all. Parents want to choose a neighborhood that already has kids rather than hoping that kids will move in someday.
Q: With all of the interest in Phase 2, have you considered adding more than 14 homes?
A: There is a lot of interest in Phase 2, which is a great thing. Many new-forming communities have failed because they couldn’t attract enough members. However, it seems extremely unlikely that we would be able to obtain government approval for more than 14 new homes.
A: We are currently working through various regulatory requirements, which makes nailing down a timeline difficult. Here is our current very rough, best estimate of the development timeline for Phase 2.
- Oct 2019: get Bayfield Planning District Map Amendment approval - done
- Jan 2020: get Conceptual Development Plan approval - done
- Jan 2022: get Sketch Plan approval - done
- June 2023: submit Preliminary Plat application, which includes site design and all infrastructure details - done
- Jan - Oct 2023: design homes
- Oct 2023: get Preliminary Plat approval
- Nov 2023 - Jan 2024: hire builder, get construction financing, etc.
- Feb - Dec 2024: build homes and move in (the first homes would be completed in Aug 2024)
This is probably an ambitious timeline, but we’d rather set ambitious goals and hit them a bit late than set more relaxed goals and hit them a bit late.
Q: How much will Phase 2 homes cost?
A: It is too early to accurately estimate home costs. Home construction costs are currently extremely volatile. We still have some details to work out related to regulatory requirements for roads, water, and sewer. Home construction costs will be dependent on the size of the home, design choices, and prevailing local construction costs at the time we break ground. A very rough estimate of the total home cost as of August 2021 would be in the $450 to $950K range, but with the incredible cost volatility, these numbers are likely to change. For more information, see our Vital Information for Phase 2 Homebuyers webpage.
Q: Where will the Phase 2 homes be located?
A: The Phase 2 homes will be located within the envelope shown on map at right. It is just to the east of the Phase 1 cluster. The Phase 2 cluster will take up about one third of the envelope. The main advantages of that location are:
- close to the Phase 1 cluster, which will make it much easier for Phase 1 and Phase 2 to be fully integrated
- beautiful area
- excellent solar access
- near existing infrastructure, which will reduce costs
Q: What kind of homes will be built in Phase 2?
A: We will build homes that are very energy efficient, environmentally responsible (all electric), very high quality, and optimized for solar, just like the Phase 1 homes. To reduce construction costs and hassle for homebuyers, we'll hire one builder to build all of our homes. Various floor plans, options, and upgrades will be available. We will strive to design homes that will allow flexibility for future homeowners to customize and enlarge their homes. The floor plan options will probably range in size from about 1000sf to 2500sf. You can see some Phase 1 home photos in our Photo Gallery.
Q: What will be the minimum home size in Phase 2?
A: It is likely that the architectural guidelines for Phase 2 homes will be very similar to those we used in Phase 1. There's a maximum home size of 3000sf, but no minimum.
Q: Will Phase 2 Homebuyers have any say in their home designs?
A: Yes, absolutely. All Phase 2 Homebuyers will have the opportunity to collaborate with our architect in the design of their homes.
Q: Will there be any duplex homes in Phase 2?
A: No, there won’t be any duplexes in Phase 2 because during the construction of P1 we learned that duplexes are not particularly less expensive to build, not significantly more energy efficient, and significantly less desirable to most homebuyers. Additionally, the Phase 2 lots will be laid out with an east/west orientation, which means that the north unit in a duplex would have no south windows. That’s a nonstarter given our strong commitment to passive solar homes.
Q: How large will the Phase 2 lots be? How large will the front and back yards be?
A: Phase 2 lots will be in a range of approximately 5300sf to 7300sf. An average backyard might be about 55’ x 40’ and a front yard about 55’ x 20’.
Q: What costs should I expect to incur after buying my home in Phase 2?
A: Phase 2 household costs will probably be similar to Phase 1 household costs. Here is a listing of typical Phase 1 household costs:
HOA dues for 2023 (based partially on number of people in household):
- household of 1: $191 per month
- household of 2: $253 per month
- household of 3: $314 per month
- household of 4: $375 per month
Costs for Mac's Phase 1 home (2022 data):
- electricity: averaged $75 per month
- natural gas: averaged $67 per month
- internet: $80 per month (various plans available)
- home insurance: $142 per month
- property tax: $2084 per year
Note that water, septic, trash, recycling, snow plowing, common house upkeep, etc. are all included in HOA dues.
Q: How close will the Phase 2 homes be to each other?
A: The homes will probably be spaced similarly to how the homes are spaced in Phase 1. The three main factors in home spacing are:
- We want the homes close enough to promote social interaction. Building a community requires two things: 1) a design that fosters community interactions; 2) people holding the intention of being in community together. When people can see other people, they can interact with each other. Interaction promotes yet more interaction. This is how our wonderful, spontaneous front porch gatherings happen.
- We want homes far enough apart to ensure privacy. Modern neighborhoods are often designed to provide only privacy and virtually no community interaction. Cohousing provides the opportunity for either community or privacy, depending on one's mood and one's needs in the moment. We recognize that privacy is something that we all want and need and we will build that into our site design.
- We also want homes far enough apart to ensure excellent solar access. All P2 homes will be passive solar, which means they must be spaced far enough apart so that homes don't cast too much of a shadow on their north neighbor's home, even at midday on winter solstice.
Q: Will the existing Phase 1 amenities such as common house, greenhouse, gardens, playground, tennis court, etc. also serve Phase 2?
A: Yes, once Phase 2 is built and Phase 2 members move in, Heartwood will be one big, happy community of 38 households, all with equal ownership of HOA assets and amenities, equal rights and privileges, etc.
Q: Can I work remotely from Heartwood?
A: Yes, absolutely. A large percentage of current Heartwood community members work remotely. We have 50 Mbps high-speed internet available and a great little regional airport. Modern technology allows us to have the best of both worlds – a peaceful, quiet life in the country, close to nature and the ability to work globally.
Q: What internet service is available at Heartwood? Is it reliable?
A: We currently have two providers of high speed internet: CenturyLink and AlignTec. CenturyLink has been here since the beginning, but AlignTec just started providing service to Heartwood within the past few years. CenturyLink provides service through the phone lines and offers service up to maybe 20 mbps. AlignTec provides service via wireless broadcasting and offers service up to 50 mbps. AlignTec seems to be extremely reliable, while CenturyLink has had a history for some households of some reliability problems. Generally speaking, our internet service is probably not what you would find in an urban area, but we have many people here who work from their homes via the internet without a problem.
Q: Why has it taken so long for Phase 2 to be developed?
A: Over twenty years ago when Heartwood Cohousing was forming, we had planned to create two phases, but we ran into some unexpected permitting problems. The highway intersection used to access our land was deemed too dangerous to allow further development. That intersection has now been upgraded so at long last our path is clear to move forward with creating Phase 2.
Q: What design and building professionals do you have in mind? Do you already have ties and relationships with architects, engineers, builders, and other tradespeople such as electricians, plumbers, electricians, solar companies, etc.?
A: We will be working with the architect, Matt Worswick, who did such a wonderful job with our Phase 1 site plan, common house, and production homes. Matt lives in Harmony Village cohousing. He is very familiar with both cohousing and passive solar design. Other than Matt, we will plan to hire a new general contractor for site work and home construction. The general contractor will hire the subcontractors.
Q: Will the homes have plenty of sunlight?
A: Southwest Colorado has lots of sunshine and we will make sure that the site and home designs bring lots of sunshine into every home, for both aesthetics and energy efficiency. All of the Phase 1 homes have great natural sunlight.
Q: What kind of home heating will be used in Phase 2?
A: To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Phase 2 homes will be all-electric (no natural gas). Electricity will be available from the soon to be constructed LPEA solar garden.
All Phase 2 homes will probably use the same type of heating system for economies of scale. The exact system specs are being worked on by our Construction Alternatives Team.
Building basic, good quality systems along with features that create future flexibility was one of the things we did deliberately throughout the Phase 1 production homes (not just the heating systems) and something we will again do with the Phase 2 homes.
Q: How will parking be handled?
A: As in Phase 1, we will build parking lots and carports on the periphery of the pedestrian neighborhood. Phase 2 members will have the option to park for free in the parking lots or purchase one or more carports, which will include a covered place to park and room to store camping gear, bikes, skis, boats, and all those toys that go along with life in SW Colorado.
Q: What criteria will be used to design and build Phase 2 homes??
A: We had architectural standards that homes had to meet during Phase 1. We also have Design Criteria for Phase 2 homes.
There's a section of our covenants which contains the architectural standards for Phase 1 homes. In a nutshell, the architectural standards address:
- setbacks (how close to lot lines the home can be located)
- bulk plane (how much of a shadow a building may cast in order to ensure good solar access for all homes)
- grading and drainage
- style and materials: We call our design style Southwest Mountain Rustic. In order for the homes to have a cohesive look and feel, they all have brown stucco and midnight blue or dark brown metal roofs, which is also good for wildfire protection.
- green construction: passive solar, energy efficient, ≤3000 sf max home size
- community interaction (design elements to promote community interaction): kitchen in the front of the home, minimum 100 sf front porch
Design Criteria in Priority Order
Decided at Jan 8, 2022 P2 Zoom Gathering.
The number in parenthesis reflects the number of first place votes each criterion received.
- quality construction/low maintenance/reliability (10)
- energy efficient/passive solar (6)
- affordability (2)
- sustainable design & materials (carbon footprint) (1)
- healthy building materials
- accessibility/aging in place (2)
- open & spacious (1)
- efficient use of space
- future expandability
- daylighting
- aesthetics/beauty
- simplicity of building form
- flexibility of functions (long term flexibility)
- marketability
Q: Given that there are a few rentals in Phase 1 and there has been some discussion of including some in Phase 2, what is Heartwood's policy regarding renters being fully participating community members?
A: Before we built Phase 1, we made a big road trip to other cohousing communities to learn what was working for them and what they wished they had done differently. One of the things that one community in particular was not happy about was the large number of renters who did not participate in the community and only lived there for convenience. We decided that we didn’t want that. Everyone living at Heartwood is expected to be a fully participating member. The rights and responsibilities extended to members, whether owners or renters, are identical (except for some rarely invoked voting procedures detailed in the HOA covenants). Please check out our Membership agreement for full details.
Q: Where does Heartwood get its water and will there be enough to serve Phase 2?
A: We get our irrigation water from the Thompson-Epperson ditch. We’ve got very good water rights. The quantity is sufficient to meet our pasture needs and also irrigation water for cluster landscaping. The rights are very senior, which means that in drought years, we are some of the last landowners to have our water usage restricted. The water in the Thompson-Epperson ditch comes out of the Pine River, which flows out of the Weminuche Wilderness area in the San Juan Mountains, north of us.
We get our potable water from five wells on our land. Because our newest well (#5) was drilled down in the pasture, which is low in the watershed, it has proven to be a very strong well. We feel confident that it, along with our other wells, can serve both Phase 1 and Phase 2 so we are not planning to obtain any other water sources for Phase 2.
In June of 2022, as part of our governmental approvals, we hired a hydrogeologic engineer to test well #5. Our anticipated water usage for both Phase 1 and Phase 2 is about 3,200 gallons per day (gpd). Because the regulatory agencies assume a huge daily water consumption per household, we were required to prove that our wells can produce about 14,000 gpd. During the 24 hour pump test well #5 produced about 17,000 gallons. That's a great indication that all four of our wells should be able to provide ample water for the community.
There’s no guarantee that our wells will be able to keep up with demand forever, but the test results were very reassuring. If for some reason, in the distant future, our wells are no longer able to keep up, our fallback plan would be to hook up to the new LAPLAWD water system line down along Hwy 160. That could cost as much as $1,000,000 so we’ll keep using our own wells in the meantime.
Q: Have you considered composting toilets or gray water alternatives?
A: We have done a lot of research into alternative septic systems. Mostly it’s all about meeting regulations. Anything remotely approximating composting toilets or other similar alternatives are unfortunately out of the question. The regulations will only allow very traditional approaches, and even those are very difficult to get approval for.
Q: What are the two gas wells at Heartwood extracting? Who owns them? Are they both active? Is there (or has there) been any effect on the well water quality?
A: There are two gas wells in the northern portion of Heartwood’s land. They produce natural gas. They were owned by BP, but have recently been sold to IKAV, a European renewable energy company. The local BP operations people have switched over and now work for IKAV, which is a good thing because they have been good people to work with.
Unfortunately we don’t own the mineral rights to our land so we don’t collect any royalties. The mineral rights were sold off in the 60’s, well before we owned the land.
We have not noticed any adverse impacts on our water quality or quantity. We are required to do rigorous testing to monitor that, some of which BP pays for. The gas wells are pulling up natural gas from several thousand feet down, but we are getting our water from just a couple hundred feet down so hopefully there is no influence on our water from the gas below.
Q: If we build homes that are more than one story, would it be possible to later add an elevator?
A: It should be possible to design homes that could accommodate a future elevator. It’s also possible that there will even be enough interest amongst Phase 2 Homebuyers to offer an elevator as an option so the home could be built with it in the first place for those who want to have one and pay extra for it.
Q: Are wood stoves allowed at Heartwood?
A: Yes, probably about half the Phase 1 homes have wood stoves. They need to be efficient stoves so they don’t emit too much smoke and soot, but those are easy to find, not expensive, and are better at heating a home.
Q: Will phone lines be extended to Phase 2 homes?
A: We’re not sure yet whether there will be land lines in Phase 2. That will be decided during the design phase.
Q: Is radon an issue at Heartwood?
A: There is some radon here so most Heartwood homes with people sleeping in the basement have radon exhaust fans.
Q: Has Heartwood ever considered ways to increase diversity and social justice?
A: There are many Heartwood members who are working to promote social justice. As a community, we have not specifically attempted to recruit members to increase our diversity, other than currently putting in a little extra effort to recruit families. In general, we attempt to be welcoming of everyone who shows up that’s interested in community.
As you can imagine, increasing diversity is a big issue throughout the cohousing world, given that cohousers tend to be very left leaning. Many communities have worked to increase their racial diversity with frustratingly little success. And that’s in very racially diverse locations, like Washington, DC, San Francisco, etc. Living in an area where pretty much the only racial diversity that exists is the nearby Southern Ute Tribe, we have attracted very little interest from racially diverse people.
One thing to keep in mind is that diversity comes in many, many flavors, not just racial diversity. We have a whole lot of diversity here even though a photo of the community might not make it look like that. We have community members who hold a wide variety of religious or spiritual beliefs. Many members are gay or trans or heterosexual. There are community members from all over the country and from all different backgrounds. We have many jewish families and a hispanic family here. One neighbor grew up in one of those extremely religious societies in Ohio (similar to Amish or Mennonite). The East Coast people approach life in a whole different way from the Midwest or West Coast people. There is a tremendous amount of diversity in the ways that all of us approach life. Because we live in close relationship with each other, the ways that we differ from each other are better understood and appreciated. We proudly fly a rainbow flag out in front of the common house and one of our core values is to welcome expressions of diversity.
Q: Is there a fee to keep large animals in the pasture?
A: The community (HOA) doesn't charge any fees, but does require labor to maintain pasture irrigation, fencing, weed management, etc. in exchange for pasturing animals in the pasture. There are fees required to be paid to the Large Animal Group, which is a private group of large animal owners, for the purchase and upkeep of certain assets that specifically serve large animals, such as water troughs, corrals, etc. If you are interested in keeping a large animal in the pasture, we'd recommend that you get in touch with our Pasture team for more information.
Q: How does farm housing fit into the plan for Phase 2?
A: We own 65 acres of irrigated pastureland, which is a lot of responsibility and work. Back in 2009 we started an organic farm with about a half dozen farm interns supplying the labor. It was a great way to steward our land and grow wonderful produce, but after a couple years the County told us that we were no longer allowed to have interns living in tents. It’s a long story, but the upshot is that we’d like to figure out a way to provide housing for farm labor (maybe a farm manager and interns) that the County would approve.
Part of the goal of the Phase 2 development is to create “farm housing flexibility”, which is to say that as we obtain County approval for Phase 2, we also want to make sure to include some provision for future farm housing. That means getting the County to sign off on a plan that works for them while we’re going through the big Phase 2 approval process anyway. How the housing gets built, paid for, and managed has yet to be worked out. More than likely, it would be some private enterprise. There doesn’t seem to be too much support for the HOA (community as a whole) paying for farm housing or managing it.
So the short answer is that creating farm housing flexibility does not represent an expense for the community, but will hopefully one day create the opportunity to have an organic farm on a larger scale than is currently possible with just volunteers from the community.
Q: Have efforts have been made to bring more families with kids into Phase 2?
A: The Membership team, and the community in general, has spent a fair amount of time talking about bringing more kids back into the neighborhood. We are very excited about doing so and have done several things to encourage it:
- rebuilt the kids play structure (SS Ponderosa), which was a huge and expensive project, but it’s always been such a popular place for the kids, we felt it was essential; it’s starting to get a lot of use again
- included lots of photos of kids on social media and our website; communicated what an amazing place it is for kids to grow up, which is easy to say because it’s absolutely true
- hosted local family-friendly events here at Heartwood
- created a New Families Fund to award the first 3 new families buying homes here (all 3 awards have already been spoken for)
These efforts seem to be paying off as we are getting lots more interest from families. Several new families have moved in recently, which is probably the most important factor of all. Parents want to choose a neighborhood that already has kids rather than hoping that kids will move in someday.
Q: With all of the interest in Phase 2, have you considered adding more than 14 homes?
A: There is a lot of interest in Phase 2, which is a great thing. Many new-forming communities have failed because they couldn’t attract enough members. However, it seems extremely unlikely that we would be able to obtain government approval for more than 14 new homes.