Q: What is the anticipated development timeline for Phase 2?
A: We are currently working through a mountain of final design work and other work in preparation for breaking ground. 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.
A: We are currently working through a mountain of final design work and other work in preparation for breaking ground. Here is our current very rough, best estimate of the development timeline for Phase 2.
- Oct 2019: obtain Bayfield Planning District Map Amendment approval - done
- Jan 2020: obtain Conceptual Development Plan approval - done
- Jan 2022: obtain Sketch Plan approval - done
- July 2022: design site plan - done
- June 2023: submit Preliminary Plat application, which includes site design and all infrastructure details - done
- Jan - Dec 2023: design homes (preliminary) - done
- June 2024: obtain Preliminary Plat approval - done!
- Aug - Oct 2024: refine home designs with Phase 2 Homebuyers - done
- before Mar 2025: obtain commitments for remaining Phase 2 Homebuyer spots (14 total homes available)
- Jan 2024 - Mar 2025: hire builder, get construction financing, finalize home designs, etc.
- Apr 2025 - Jun 2026: build homes and move in (the first homes would be completed in the fall of 2025)
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: 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. See Phase 2 Site Plan for details. The main advantages of that location are:
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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 made a concerted effort to bring more kids back into the neighborhood. We are very excited that our efforts are paying off as we have had four young families move into the community within the past few years, one that will be moving into Phase 2, and two other young couples who intend to have kids.
Some of the specific things we've done to welcome more families:
- We 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 now getting a lot of use again – kids running, climbing, and playing together.
- We've included lots of photos of kids on social media and our website, communicating what an amazing place it is for kids to grow up, which is easy to say because it’s absolutely true!
- We host local family-friendly events here at Heartwood. We've got great family resources that we like to share with the larger community and the exposure lets local families know we're here.
The new families who have moved in recently, are probably the most important factor of all in attracting more families with kids. Parents want to choose a neighborhood that already has kids rather than hoping that kids will move in someday. There are now more young children running around Heartwood than there's been in many years.
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, the potential for the future installation of an EV charger, and room to store camping gear, bikes, skis, boats, and all those toys that go along with life in SW Colorado. Numerous garden carts will be located throughout the neighborhood making it easy to get groceries, etc from car to home.
Q: Will Phase 2 homes have attached garages?
A: No. Consistent with fundamental cohousing design principles, Heartwood is pedestrian oriented. The central pathway is for people, not cars – except for those rare instances when a large delivery needs to be made or there's an emergency. Consequently we have parking lots on the periphery of the neighborhood with carports and open parking. So while your home won't have an attached garage, you could own a carport or two if you choose. We haven't yet had a builder give us a price estimate for a carport, but a very rough estimate would be in the $15K to $20K range per carport.
Related to this, people often ask how people get stuff from their car to their home. The answer is garden carts. Heartwood owns at least a dozen of them. They work great for moving all sorts of things around the neighborhood.
Q: What's an ADU and will Phase 2 have any?
A: ADU stands for Additional Dwelling Unit. For our purposes, it's basically a mother-in-law apartment. The county didn't use to allow ADU's, but is now supportive and issues ADU permits. The basic county definition of an ADU is living space that has a separate kitchen (stove) and separate entry. A common roommate arrangement is generally not considered an ADU because it lacks either a separate kitchen, separate entry, or both.
In Phase 2, the Ponderosa is especially designed to accommodate an ADU and the Aspen would also work well. Neither of these models has a separate external ADU entrance, but the front entry of the Ponderosa can be modified by the homeowner in the future to create a separate internal ADU entrance.
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. All Phase 2 homes will be certified under the Department of Energy's Zero Energy Ready Homes program. 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 range in size from about 1100sf to 2600sf. See our Phase 2 Homes webpage to see our preliminary Phase 2 home designs. You can see some Phase 1 home photos in our Photo Gallery.
How do Phase 1 homes compare with Phase 2 homes?
When we built Heartwood Phase 1 almost 25 years ago, we built 10 custom homes and 14 production homes. By custom home, we mean a home that the homeowner was completely responsible for design, engineering, permits, financing, construction, etc. By production home, we mean a home that the homeowner had input into designing and made many design detail choices, but wasn't otherwise responsible. After the home was built by the community's development corporation, the homeowner purchased the completed home and moved in.
Besides being considerably easier for the homeowner, it turned out that the production homes were also considerably less expensive – up to 50% less expensive than custom homes per square foot. These production home cost savings make sense given the economics of sharing the costs of design, engineering, permits, financing, construction, etc and building at scale. It was also easier to coordinate the construction and timing of the production homes because they were all built by the same contractor.
For these reasons, all Phase 2 homes will be production homes. Just because a production home can be a much better value than a custom home does not mean that the quality of the home is compromised. See our Phase 2 Homes webpage and the testimonials from Phase 1 production homeowners.
It's important to note that the Phase 2 homes will meet the high quality standards of the Phase 1 homes plus they will benefit from the latest environmentally friendly home construction technologies and more fire resistant exterior materials. All Phase 2 homes will be certified under the Department of Energy's Zero Energy Ready Homes program, which represents an even more rigorous green building performance standard than the Phase 1 homes. See what Phase 1 homeowners have to say about their homes on our Phase 1 Homeowner Testimonials webpage.
Q: Did Phase 2 Homebuyers have any say in their home designs?
A: Yes, absolutely. The home designs were based heavily on input from Phase 2 Homebuyers. Some Phase 2 Homebuyers also serve on the Spec Review Team (SRT), which researches and makes decisions about home finish details.
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:
Note that water, septic, trash, recycling, snow plowing, common house upkeep, etc. are all included in HOA dues.
HOA dues for 2025 (based partially on number of people in household):
- household of 1: $260 per month
- household of 2: $350 per month
- household of 3: $440 per month
- household of 4: $530 per month
Costs for Mac's Phase 1 home (2023 data):
- electricity: averaged $76 per month
- natural gas: averaged $73 per month
- internet: $80 per month (various plans available)
- home insurance: $210 per month
- property tax: $2000 per year
Q: How close will the Phase 2 homes be to each other?
A: The homes will 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 Phase 2 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 in the middle of winter.
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, responsibilities, and privileges. There will be no distinction made between Phase 1 and Phase 2 members.
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 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: How will electromagnetic fields (EMF) be addressed in Phase 2?
A: People have varying levels of concern about EMF exposure as the science related to adverse health impacts seems to be inconclusive. There's a grouping of three cell phone towers on land adjacent to Heartwood. The towers are approximately ¼ to ½ mile from our Phase 1 and Phase 2 homes. Additionally, most people here use Wi-Fi for their internet service. As part of the Phase 2 design work we will research mitigation strategies for the homes, which could possibly be a standard feature or an optional upgrade. In August 2024 we had a Radio Frequency Exposure Assessment completed by Riun Ashlie, a Certified Electromagnetic Radiation Assessment Specialist. You can view his complete assessment of Heartwood here.
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 has designed six cohousing communities and is an expert in passive solar design. We have also partnered with Mike Sutter as our general contractor for site work and home construction. Mike is a well known and well respected local builder of green homes. Mike will hire our subcontractors. Because of Mike's green building expertise, all Phase 2 homes will be certified under the Department of Energy's Zero Energy Ready Homes program.
Q: Will the homes have plenty of sunlight?
A: Southwest Colorado has lots of sunshine. In Phase 2 we have made sure that the site and home designs bring lots of sunlight into every home, for both aesthetics and energy efficiency. All of the Phase 1 homes have great natural daylighting.
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). Homes will be ready for installation of rooftop photovoltaic systems.
All Phase 2 homes will probably use the same type of heating system for economies of scale. The exact system specs are being worked out.
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: 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. We want lots of renters, but we want everyone living at Heartwood 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 IKAV, a European renewable energy company.
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. IKAV performs regular maintenance on the gas wells, including periodic fracking. We are required to do rigorous testing to monitor our water quality, some of which IKAV 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. Our water quality testing has not indicated any such influence.
Q: If we build homes that are more than one story, would it be possible to later add an elevator?
A: The plans for our Aspen model can accommodate a future elevator. It’s possible that there might 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. Radon mitigation will be designed into the Phase 2 homes.
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: 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.