This past Wednesday I sent out a newsletter rolling out Associate Membership. We have had a very strong response and now have nine Associate Member households and counting. This is great news. Obtaining County approvals and recruiting enough members are the two big hurdles we must overcome to make Phase 2 a reality. Having nine Associate Members at this stage in the process is very encouraging.

In case you missed that newsletter, here are the details of Heartwood Phase 2 membership.

Membership in Phase 2 will basically happen in two stages:

1. Associate Member - $1000 fully refundable deposit saves you a spot in Phase 2, the lot selection queue, and the carport selection queue
2. Full Member - $12,000 non-refundable deposit holds your spot in Phase 2, the lot selection queue, and the carport selection queue. Because Full membership involves a large non-refundable deposit, I won't be asking you to make that commitment until more Phase 2 details are nailed down, including County approval of our Conceptual Development Plan and a firm estimate of lot and home costs (probably around yearend). Once Full Membership is available, Associate Membership will go away. Associate Members at that time will need to make the non-refundable deposit or lose their place in the queue.

The benefits to you of becoming an Associate Member...

• Provides you with a no-risk way to save your spot in Phase 2. Associate Member deposits are fully refundable at any time for any reason. If you change your mind and decide you don't want to be an Associate Member, I will promptly refund your entire $1000 deposit. Saving your spot in the queue is important because if there are 15 households that want to buy a Phase 2 lot, but only 10 lots are developed, the first 10 in the queue will get to buy them.
• Saves your place in the lot selection queue. The lot selection queue determines the order in which members will choose their lots. Not all lots are created equal. Lots will be priced based on size, amenities, location, etc. so getting to pick your lot sooner means more choice about price, size, amenities, location, etc. The sooner you sign up, the earlier in the selection process you'll get to choose your lot.
• Saves your place in the carport selection queue. This is the same as the lot selection queue, but it pertains to selecting carports instead of lots. Members signing up earlier get to choose first.
• You'll be invited to participate in onsite Associate Member workshops and provide input into various aspects of the Phase 2 design.

The benefits to us of having Associate Members...

• Gives us a clear idea of who is seriously interested in pursuing Phase 2 Membership. Before moving forward with expensive development work, we need to know that there is strong interest.
• People seriously interested in Phase 2 providing us with design input is a valuable resource and helps ensure that Phase 2 will be built in a way that best meets the needs of its future residents.

If you are seriously interested in being part of Phase 2, but are concerned that with nine Associate Members already in line there might not be a spot for you, don't be discouraged. Once Full Membership opens up and the $12,000 non-refundable deposit is required, there will certainly be some turnover. If you are seriously interested, I'd strongly encourage you to get in the Phase 2 queue by becoming an Associate Member. Chances are there will be room for you.


To become an Associate Member...

1. Respond to this email letting me know you have decided to become an Associate Member.
2. Mail a check for $1000 or make arrangements with me for some other form of payment. Checks should be made out to Tara Development and mailed to Mac Thomson, 800 Heartwood Lane, Unit 16, Bayfield, CO, 81122. The order in which payment is received determines the order in the queue.

I realize that this is a big step forward and I want you to have all of your questions answered. If you have any questions that are making you uncertain about becoming a Phase 2 Associate Member, please don't hesitate to reply to this email with your question or give me a call at 970-903-9751.

As I mentioned in the last Phase 2 Update newsletter, my work is now focused on obtaining County approval and building membership. Good progress has been made in both those areas, but I'm going to wait until the next newsletter to provide that update. I'm going to devote this entire newsletter to rolling out Associate Membership.

Membership in Phase 2 will basically happen in two stages:

1. Associate Member - $1000 fully refundable deposit saves you a spot in Phase 2, the lot selection queue, and the carport selection queue
2. Full Member - $12,000 non-refundable deposit holds your a spot in Phase 2, the lot selection queue, and the carport selection queue. Because Full Membership involves a large non-refundable deposit, I won't be asking you to make that commitment until more Phase 2 details are nailed down, including County approval of our Conceptual Development Plan and a firm estimate of lot and home costs (probably around yearend). Once Full Membership is available, Associate Membership will go away. Associate Members at that time will need to make the non-refundable deposit or lose their place in the queue.

The benefits to you of becoming an Associate Member...

• Provides you with a no-risk way to save your spot in Phase 2. Associate Member deposits are fully refundable at any time for any reason. If you change your mind and decide you don't want to be an Associate Member, I will promptly refund your entire $1000 deposit. Saving your spot in the queue is important because if there are 15 households that want to buy a Phase 2 lot, but only 10 lots are developed, the first 10 in the queue will get to buy them.
• Saves your place in the lot selection queue. The lot selection queue determines the order in which members will choose their lots. Not all lots are created equal. Lots will be priced based on size, amenities, location, etc. so getting to pick your lot sooner means more choice about price, size, amenities, location, etc. The sooner you sign up, the earlier in the selection process you'll get to choose your lot.
• Saves your place in the carport selection queue. This is the same as the lot selection queue, but it pertains to selecting carports instead of lots. Members signing up earlier get to choose first.
• You'll be invited to participate in onsite Associate Member workshops and provide input into various aspects of the Phase 2 design.

The benefits to us of having Associate Members...

• Gives us a clear idea of who is seriously interested in pursuing Phase 2 Membership. Before moving forward with expensive development work, we need to know that there is strong interest.
• People seriously interested in Phase 2 providing us with design input is a valuable resource and helps ensure that Phase 2 will be built in a way that best meets the needs of its future residents.

Back in 2009 we attempted to develop Phase 2, but were unable to because the highway department (CDOT) would not issue us an access permit until our highway intersection was upgraded. That upgrade has now been completed and we have our CDOT access permit. We still have a couple of Associate Members from 2009 who chose to hold onto their spots in the queue. Additionally, two Phase 1 households have signed up for Associate Membership, which means that we currently have four Phase 2 Associate Members. 


To become an Associate Member...

1. Respond to this email letting me know you have decided to become an Associate Member.
2. Mail a check for $1000 or make arrangements with me for some other form of payment. Checks should be made out to Tara Development and mailed to Mac Thomson, 800 Heartwood Lane, Unit 16, Bayfield, CO, 81122. The order in which payment is received determines the order in the queue.

I realize that this is a big step forward and I want you to have all of your questions answered. If you have any questions that are making you uncertain about becoming a Phase 2 Associate Member, please don't hesitate to reply to this email with your question or give me a call at 970-903-9751.

​Well folks, here we go!

This is the first installment of the Heartwood Cohousing Phase 2 Update newsletter. While the Heartwood Happenings newsletter that you've been receiving is all about sharing little glimpses of life here at Heartwood, the Phase 2 Update newsletter will provide you with the latest information about the development of our second phase.

​The most significant progress that we've made towards making Phase 2 a reality was collaborating with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to create a left turn lane off the highway (Hwy 160) onto our county road (CR 506). That secured for us a much safer intersection and a CDOT access permit for up to 20 new homes. The lack of a left turn lane had been the major obstacle preventing Phase 2 from happening for the past 19 years. Very exciting to get that resolved!

With the access permit in hand, it's time to get to work. Back in 1998, we decided to create our community in two phases. Because we've evolved since then, we revisited that decision, working together for many months to revise our vision of Phase 2 (P2). Some of the significant new parts of our P2 vision include:

• rather than P2 being fairly separate from the existing P1, the two phases will be fully integrated
• consider locating P2 homes close to the P1 cluster to support that integration
• increase the number of P2 lots from 10 to possibly 14
• work with the County to create the possibility of farm housing in the pasture to make it easier to support farmers on our land
• possibly sell off some of our 65 acres of pastureland in order to make it easier for us to properly steward our pastureland

Click here to see the complete Phase 2 agreement.

Although it's very important for us to create a vision for P2, the reality is that the County will have to approve our P2 development so they will have a huge impact on how P2 actually gets developed. The County approval process is one of the most critical pieces in our P2 development work and the one I'm most focused on right now. I've had several meetings with government agencies (county planners, fire department, health department, Town of Bayfield) and have more scheduled (road and bridge department, water division).

Another critical piece in the success of P2 is marketing. Before we begin constructing roads, water, septic systems, and homes, we will want to have the lots pre-sold. To that end, our Membership team has been working hard to revamp our website (adding lots more information and photos), increase our social media presence (links at the bottom of this email), assist people with their exploration of Heartwood, and host lots of visitors coming to check out life in community.

Another important recent focus has been to assemble our development team. I'm very excited about these professionals we'll be working with:

• land use planning consultant: Nancy Lauro
• engineers: Mike Olson and Chad Engelhardt
• architect: Matt Worswick
• attorney: Paul Kosnik

I've also been working on some of the foundational necessities of creating P2, including creating a development company (Tara Development, LLC), obtaining a tax ID number, setting up a bank account, and obtaining initial funding. Not particularly exciting work, but necessary. BTW, I chose the name Tara because within Tibetan Buddhism Tara is regarded as a female bodhisattva of compassion and action.

​I will continue to focus primarily on County approval and marketing.

When we developed Phase 1, the County approval process took us a couple of years. The land use planning consultant I'm working with for P2 thinks that we should be able to get our approvals by the summer of 2020. As soon as we get County approval, we will be able to sell lots and begin construction.

In marketing we will work to introduce more people to Heartwood and support them in their exploration. On the local level, in March we will begin monthly 4th Friday Happy Hours and Potlucks. We actually hold a community Happy Hour and Potluck every Friday, but on the 4th Friday of every month we will open them to the public, inviting anyone interested in learning more about Heartwood to come and join us.

On a national level we will explore ways to introduce more people to Heartwood – that is, drive more traffic to our website. Also, I have made reservations to attend the National Cohousing Conference in Portland in early June. Not only will I be able to spread the good word about Heartwood, I will learn the latest strategies in cohousing development and build relationships with members of the larger cohousing movement. If you are interested in learning more about cohousing, you might want to consider attending also.

I will soon be opening up Phase 2 membership so you'll be able to reserve your spot. Stay tuned to future newsletters for details. If you have been watching Heartwood from a distance, this would probably be a good time for you to plan for a visit so you will know if you want to become a P2 member when membership opens. The project is picking up speed. There are a limited number of spots and they will sell out.

Phase 2 offers a unique opportunity to be a founding member of a new community and at the same time join an already successful community.

To plan a visit to Heartwood, you can go to the Plan a Visit page of our website or simply reply to this email, which will put you in touch with Sandy, my wife and email contact person on our Membership team.