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On Tuesday the Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved Phase 2's Conceptual Development Plan. We still have significant approvals needed, but this was a huge step forward. More details below as well as information about the Associate Members gathering.  Recent Progress The really big news is our continuing success with the county approval process. We received final approval for our Conceptual Development Plan, which basically means that the County believes that adding 14 Phase 2 homes is consistent with the Land Use Code and also other development in our area. In addition to the 14 Phase 2 homes, the approval also allows us to build three farm houses. The rough plan at this point is to build some sort of housing to accommodate a farm manager and farm labor. In 2009 we started an organic farm powered by intern labor. We grew huge quantities of delicious, nutritious veggies and the interns brought a wonderful youthful and idealistic energy to the community. Unfortunately they were living in a little tent village we had built and even though they loved their tents, the County did not. The tent village violated various codes so we had to shut it down. Being able to build acceptable farm housing means that we can renew our dreams of creating a thriving organic farm here. Our next big step in the county approval process is Preliminary Plat approval. During that process, we will need to demonstrate adequate plans for roads, water, and sewer. Those will all be challenging to some degree because of our rural location. We can't simply tap into municipal water and sewer systems. We have our own systems here at Heartwood and we'll need to demonstrate that they can be expanded to meet regulatory requirements for Phase 2. We've hired highly qualified engineers who are working on system details. We've recently completed the paperwork to expand our water well permits to accommodate the additional Phase 2 homes. Once upon a time there were about 30 kids here at Heartwood. Many of us founding members had young families. The good news is that those kids got to grow up in an amazing community environment to become some of the most grounded and inspiring young adults that we could have hoped for. The bad news is that those kids are now out in the world forging their own paths so we have far fewer kids living here. Because our desire is to be a multi-generational community, we are actively welcoming new families. To that end, we've just this month created a New Families Award. Each of the first three families to buy a home at Heartwood, either in Phase 1 or Phase 2, will receive $1000 towards the purchase of their new home. (We define a family as having at least one child ≤12 years old.) Because of the safe and loving environment where unsupervised free play is a normal part of a kid's life, Heartwood is about as good of a place as a kid will find to grow up. Not only is it super fun, kids grow up with self-confidence, interpersonal skills, and emotional maturity. By becoming a P2 Associate Member or buying one of the gorgeous Phase 1 homes currently for sale, a family can lock in one of the three $1000 New Families Awards. One of my Heartwood neighbors, Han Bishop, is very active in many senior organizations and was recently interviewed by the Elders Action Network. Han did a great job talking about cohousing and the impact it's had on his life. Click here to view the interview.  KJ burning slash at last Saturday's work party. How sweet is it to work outdoors with friends getting useful work done for the good of us all? It’s just a good feeling. The Path Ahead Our main points of focus will continue to be obtaining our county approvals and attracting members. Developing 14 homes is a significant financial undertaking. To make the homes as affordable as possible we want to have all 14 new households committed before we break ground. That makes obtaining construction financing much easier and cheaper and also guarantees that we'll sell the homes as soon as they are completed and thereby avoid extra interest costs. We're very excited to announce the very first gathering of the Phase 2 Associate Members (P2AM's) on the weekend of April 3 to 5. The purposes of the gathering are:
The Cohousing Association of the United States (CohoUS) has a couple of online events coming up that you might want to register for:I will be one of the presenters at the online affordability conference. We continue to work to attract more P2 Associate Members. Marketing and building the tribe are huge success factors in any new forming cohousing development. Please spread the news about Heartwood Phase 2 with anyone you know who might be interested in community living in close connection with nature. Please share this email or send them to www.heartwoodcohousing.com.  Gorgeous hoar frost coats the needles of pine trees during my XC ski yesterday. The HD Mountains are only a few minutes from Heartwood. I love getting out for some fresh air and exercise after a day of desk work. Getting Involved If you're interested in a greater sense of peace and belonging in your life and a healthier lifestyle fostered by living in community and close to Nature, we invite you to get involved. If you'd like to come for a visit, click here to check out our Plan a Visit webpage or click here to send an email to Sandy. She can help you reserve one of our common house guest rooms. If you've been undecided about becoming an Associate Member, don't despair about the fact that we already have 13 Associate Member households. Once Full Equity Membership opens up and the $12,000 non-refundable deposit is required, there will certainly be some turnover. If you are seriously interested, we'd strongly encourage you to get in the Phase 2 queue by becoming an Associate Member. Chances are there will be room for you. Click here for info on becoming an Associate Member. As always, if you have any questions, simply reply to this email and let us know. We're happy to answer any and all questions. We've posted frequently asked questions on the Phase 2 page on our website. Yours in Community, Mac Phase 2 Project Manager
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Last Thursday was our second hearing before the County Planning Commission in as many months. They again were very supportive of our project, this time unanimously voting to approve our Conceptual Development Plan (CDP).  Recent Progress The really big news is our continuing success with the county approval process. That process was incredibly challenging 20 years ago and we just barely got our approvals. The big difference this time around is that our neighbors now know us and like us. Twenty years ago we were an unknown new community development conjuring up the worst fears about hippy communes. We have become friends with our neighbors and they know us to be good neighbors living in nice houses – in short, their fears did no materialize. We still have one more big step with the CDP approval. In January we will go before the Board of County Commissioners for (hopefully) final CDP approval. After CDP approval, we'll still have Preliminary Plat approval, which is dependent upon demonstrating adequate plans for roads, water, and sewer. That will be a huge step as regulations have only gotten more strict in the past 20 years, but based on work with various agencies so far, things are looking good. We continue to have lively discussions on our Phase 2 Associate Members' chat group. We surveyed the Associate Members about their hopes and needs related to their future homes at Heartwood and about becoming Full Equity Members. Some of the survey result highlights:
Welcome aboard Vanessa, Vincent, and Rosalie!  Mac and a good friend, Bryan, enjoying their first high country skiing of the season on Saturday. Winter is slowly arriving to SW Colorado. All work and no play makes Mac a dull boy. :-) The Path Ahead The big project on my plate right now is figuring out our septic plan. We've hired a very good septic engineer (Rick Johnson) and are working closely with our local health department. We have a unique situation in that we are not designing an independent system for a single family household and we're not designing a municipal system. We are somewhere in the middle, which makes navigating the regulations a bit tricky. But we've got good people working on it and we'll get it figured out. Once we have a general septic system plan, we can figure out where to locate the Phase 2 homes. That will be an exciting visioning process – imagining the landscape transformed into a neighborhood. One thing that came out of the survey is the desire of many of the P2 Associate Members to come to Heartwood for a weekend together soon. We'll see if there's a good time for everyone early in 2020. An early 2020 gathering of P2 Associate Members could be a good reason for you to become an Associate Member if you've been sitting on the fence. Associate Members get to provide design and planning input via our group email chat and at onsite gatherings. Click here for info on becoming an Associate Member. We continue to work to attract more P2 Associate Members. Marketing and building the tribe are huge success factors in any new forming cohousing development. Please spread the news about Heartwood Phase 2 with anyone you know who might be interested in community living in close connection with nature. Please share this email or send them to www.heartwoodcohousing.com. Happy Thanksgiving Have a great weekend and Thanksgiving everyone! Lots of gratitude. Lots of love. Getting Involved If you're interested in a greater sense of peace and belonging in your life and a healthier lifestyle fostered by living in community and close to Nature, we invite you to get involved. If you'd like to come for a visit, click here to check out our Plan a Visit webpage or click here to send an email to Sandy. She can help you reserve one of our common house guest rooms. If you've been undecided about becoming an Associate Member, don't despair about the fact that we already have 15 Associate Member households. Once Full Equity Membership opens up and the $12,000 non-refundable deposit is required, there will certainly be some turnover. If you are seriously interested, we'd strongly encourage you to get in the Phase 2 queue by becoming an Associate Member. Chances are there will be room for you. Click here for info on becoming an Associate Member. As always, if you have any questions, simply reply to this email and let us know. We're happy to answer any and all questions. We've posted frequently asked questions on the Phase 2 page on our website. Yours in Community, Mac Phase 2 Project Manager With our Land Use Map Amendment approval last night, things are looking very good in our county approval process. Lots of other good news to report, including being up to 20 Phase 2 Associate Members (see list below). Onward we go...  Recent Progress The really big news is that last night we went before the County Planning Commission seeking approval for a Land Use Map Amendment which would make Phase 2 possible. We passed with flying colors! That was the the first big hurdle with County approval. We have two more to go – Conceptual Development Plan (CDP) and Preliminary Plat. Our hearing before the Planning Commission to consider our CDP application is scheduled for November 21. Everything is looking good so far. May it go as smoothly as last night. The Phase 2 Associate Members' chat group has been lively. Folks have been introducing themselves and we've begun sharing our hopes and dreams about what kind of homes we'd like to build. Our work together to shape our new community expansion has begun. Besides saving your spot in Phase 2 and your place in the lot and carport selection queue, getting to participate in shaping our Phase 2 planning and design is one of the key benefits of becoming a Phase 2 Associate Member. Click here for info on becoming an Associate Member. Speaking of which, we are now up to 20 P2 Associate Members. Welcome aboard May and Joyce! There are a thousand details involved in a real estate development of this magnitude and many of them are rather mundane, although completely necessary. Some recent progress:
 The Path Ahead Besides preparing for our CDP hearing before the County Planning Commission in November, we are also working on determining where exactly on our 361 acres we will locate our ~3 acre Phase 2 cluster. We've got lots of choices. We are working to meet the following criteria:
We have also recently been working with our local internet provider. They assure me that we will be able to provide 50 mbps internet service to P2 homes. That's great news for future P2 residents who will work remotely, which is something that many P1 residents already do. As I mentioned above, the dreaming and planning has begun with the P2 Associate Members as we envision the homes we will build and live in. Within the next week I will release a survey for them to take so we can dive more deeply into their housing wants and needs. Every quarter I zoom out from my detailed work on Phase 2 and do some long range planning. Based on where we're at now and the practical imperative of building during the summer, it looks like aiming to begin Phase 2 construction during the spring of 2021 makes the most sense. There's a possibility that if everything in the universe aligns just right, we could be ready to build in the the summer of 2020, but as we all know, pretty much everything takes longer than we think it will, especially in the world of government approvals, design, and construction. When we built Phase 1, we had hoped to break ground in late spring, but because of the inevitable delays, we didn't break ground until the end of summer, which meant lots of construction going on through the winter – less than optimal (meaning more costly). This time around we will hopefully plan for those inevitable delays. If we shoot to have everything ready for construction by the end of 2020, that might give us a reasonable chance of actually being ready by the spring of 2021. Getting Involved If you're interested in a greater sense of peace and belonging in your life and a healthier lifestyle fostered by living in community and close to Nature, we invite you to get involved. If you'd like to come for a visit, click here to check out our Plan a Visit webpage or click here to send an email to Sandy. She can help you reserve one of our common house guest rooms. If you've been undecided about becoming an Associate Member, don't despair about the fact that we already have 20 Associate Member households. Once Full Equity Membership opens up and the $12,000 non-refundable deposit is required, there will certainly be some turnover. If you are seriously interested, we'd strongly encourage you to get in the Phase 2 queue by becoming an Associate Member. Chances are there will be room for you. Click here for info on becoming an Associate Member. As always, if you have any questions, simply reply to this email and let us know. We're happy to answer any and all questions. We've posted frequently asked questions on the Phase 2 page on our website. Yours in Community,
Mac Phase 2 Project Manager More Associate Members, Phase 2 Associate Members Chat Under Way, and CDP Application Completed As summer slips into fall, the Phase 2 train keeps rolling along. Check out the two photos below: 1) the official County notices posted at Heartwood's entrance for our Conceptual Development Plan and Map Amendment applications, and 2) the updated list of P2 Associate Members -- now up to 18! It's all becoming more and more real.
Recent Progress As promised in the last Phase 2 Update newsletter, we have now got the Phase 2 Associate Members' chat group going. The new chat gives us a chance to get to know each other and begin to build community together before we actually become neighbors. It will also be a way for us to collaborate in the planning and design of Phase 2. The Conceptual Development Plan (CDP) application has now been completed and submitted to the County. With luck, we will receive our Map Amendment and CDP approvals before yearend. So far no objections from the County, the neighbors, or other government agencies have surfaced. Things are looking good. Fingers crossed it continues that way. A couple more households have joined us as P2 Associate Members bringing our total to 18. Welcome aboard Esther, Janet, and Mike! If you are not yet an Associate Member, but have been thinking about jumping in, this would be a good time. With the Phase 2 Associate Members' chat group happening, we are just getting going making plans together and coming together to build this next phase of the Heartwood community. For information on becoming a Phase 2 Associate Member, click here.  Community members celebrating Sarah's birthday last Friday evening at Fox Fire Farms, our local winery and vineyard. The Path Ahead We will continue to focus primarily on County approval and marketing. If all goes according to plan, we will have hearings before the County Planning Commission in October for both our Map Amendment and CDP approvals. The Phase 2 Associate Members will continue to get to know each other and make plans on the Phase 2 Associate Members' chat group. I will be working with our local internet provider to make sure that the location of the Phase 2 homes allows for them to get 50 mbps internet service. The community will be working together to determine the exact location of the Phase 2 homes cluster. We will be choosing a location that is close to the existing cluster to foster integration of Phase 2 into the existing Heartwood community. The location will be beautiful, minimize negative impacts on the land, have good solar access, minimize negative impacts on Phase 1 homes, and be reasonably affordable to provide infrastructure (roads, water, septic, natural gas, internet, etc.). And Now for Something Completely Different... Coho/US, the national non-profit organization that supports the growth of cohousing, offers monthly webchats for people living in cohousing to learn from other cohousing communities. Tomorrow evening (Thursday, 9/12 at 6:00 Mountain time), I will be the guest for the monthly webchat. I'll be talking about Heartwood's annual budget process. You're welcome to tune in. Although you might not be too interested in HOA budgeting, the webchat will give you a peak into Heartwood's decision making process. Being a cooperative community, we do things differently from majority-rules organizations. To tune in to the webchat, on Thursday at 6:00, go to: https://zoom.us/j/202941610. To download the handouts that go along with the webchat, click here. Getting Involved If you're interested in having more community in your life and living close to Nature, we invite you to get involved. Fall is a gorgeous time in Southwest Colorado. There are fall colors in the high country and summer-like temps in the canyon country. If you'd like to come for a visit, click here to check out our Plan a Visit webpage or click here to send an email to Sandy. She can help you reserve one of our common house guest rooms. Another big event in our future is our annual fall community campout to Canyonlands National Park. This year's campout is happening from October 17 - 20. One of the great things about living in Southwest Colorado is our proximity to the vast red rock canyon country of Southeast Utah. It is truly one of the natural wonders of the world. If you would like to join the campout to get to know Heartwood community members and have fun hiking and relaxing in the desert, please let me know and I'll reserve your spot. We share the camping fees, which usually work out to be about $12 per person for the weekend. (See photos below.) If you've been sitting on the fence about becoming an Associate Member, don't despair about the fact that we already have 18 Associate Member households. Once Full Equity 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. Click here for info on becoming an Associate Member. As always, if you have any questions, simply reply to this email and let me know. I'm happy to answer any and all questions. I've posted frequently asked questions on the Phase 2 page on our website.   Yours in Community,
Mac Phase 2 Project Manager The kids are headed back to school and summer is almost over. How did that happen already? Summer is a very busy time at Heartwood with crops growing in the pasture, wildflowers in the mountains, hiking, mountain biking, new baby farm animals, rafting, backpacking, and evenings on front porches. Despite all of that, we've been making steady progress on making Phase 2 a reality. Recent Progress In the last Phase 2 Update newsletter, I mentioned that we were considering selling off some of our pastureland in order to reduce our pasture stewardship burden. In preparation for submitting our map amendment application with the County we devoted a couple of Community Meetings to deciding whether we did in fact want to sell off some pastureland. After a thorough discussion, we ended up deciding not to sell any pastureland for the time being. That means that Phase 2 will only entail the addition of 14 new households into the community in a cluster near our existing cluster. There won't be any homes in the pasture – at least for now. We'll still have the option in the future to pursue selling off some pastureland. To me this decision is a great example of our collaborative consensus process in action. We started the discussion with the majority of people favoring selling off pastureland, but through engaged conversation, deep listening, and everyone pursuing a decision that would be in the best interest of the whole community, we gracefully changed course and decided to keep all of our pastureland. There were three main reasons for the change in thinking: 1) with Phase 2 we will have more community members to help with the pastures and we will also have the possibility of housing for farm workers so stewardship should be easier; 2) developing pasture lots would have made the overall Phase 2 development more complicated and therefore maybe more risky; 3) once the pastureland is sold, it's gone forever (scary to part with land we love). We decided to see how the big changes brought by Phase 2 play out and then decide what to do with our pastureland. This is all good news for you if you're interested in Phase 2. We had thought that Phase 2 might only include 10 new homes within the Heartwood community, but we will have 14 instead, which means that we can accommodate four more households and we'll be creating more community in the world. The decision gave us the information we needed to submit our map amendment application with County. The County's current Bayfield District map would only allow 12 new Phase 2 households and no farm housing. Amending the map will allow us to create 14 new Phase 2 households, possibly two or three farm houses, and possibly pasture lots sometime in the future. (Note that farm housing is not to be confused with pasture lots. Farm housing is for farm workers to help us achieve our organic farming dreams. Pasture lots would be sold outside of the community to raise money and divest ourselves of pastureland. We still plan to pursue farm housing, but not pasture lots.) Submitting the map amendment application was a big hurdle. Our hearing before the County Planning Commission to determine whether the map will be amended happens in October. Wish us luck! Along with County approvals, the other big Phase 2 work right now is recruiting members to be part of Phase 2. We opened Associate Membership in May and the response has been very strong. We currently have 16 Associate Member households (see attached list). You might be wondering why recruiting members is a priority if we have 16 Associate Member households for only 14 spots. The answer is that because Associate Membership only requires a fully refundable deposit of $1000, it would be naive to consider all of those eggs as hatched. Once Full Equity Membership is open, which requires a nonrefundable deposit of $12,000 (much bigger commitment), we'll have a much better idea of how many of those 14 spots we have filled. The only way that Phase 2 will happen is if we attract enough members. Please spread the word about Heartwood to friends, family, or anyone you think might want to explore life in community. This is a team effort and word of mouth has always been our best way to find new members. A great way to share information about Heartwood is through social media. Click on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram links at the bottom of this email. Since the last update I also attended the National Cohousing Conference in Portland, Oregon. That was a great experience connecting with other people passionate about creating more community in the world and learning lessons from each other on just how to make that happen.
The Path Ahead We will continue to focus primarily on County approval and marketing. We are currently working on our Conceptual Development Plan (CDP) application submittal. Once the map amendment is approved, CDP approval is the next big hurdle with the County. We plan to work on both those concurrently. Our goal is to have both completed by yearend, which will put us in a position to open Full Equity Membership in early 2020. I've had several people reply to these updates with questions. That's fantastic. I try to cover what I think is important, but obviously I can only share so much and often leave questions unanswered. Based on some of the questions I've received, I've created a Frequently Asked Questions section on the Phase 2 page on our website. If you have any questions, please check out that page and if you don't find your answer there, reply to this email and let me know. I'm happy to answer any and all questions. Getting Involved The Phase 2 train is picking up steam. If you're interested in having more community in your life and living close to Nature, we invite you to get involved. Anytime of the year is gorgeous at Heartwood, but late summer and fall are many people's favorite. The wildflowers in the high country give way to fall colors. If you'd like to come for a visit, click here to check out our Plan a Visit webpage or click here to send an email to Sandy who can help you reserve one of our common house guest rooms. To better support our Associate Members, we will be creating an Associate Member email discussion group. If you're an Associate Member, look for an email with info on that within the next few weeks. Another big event in our future is our annual fall community campout to Canyonlands National Park. This year's campout is happening from October 17 - 20. One of the great things about living in Southwest Colorado is our proximity to the vast red rock canyon country of Southeast Utah. It is truly one of the natural wonders of the world. If you would like to join the campout to get to know Heartwood community members and have fun hiking and relaxing in the desert, please let me know and I'll reserve your spot. We share the camping fees, which usually work out to be about $12 per person for the weekend. (See photos below.) If you've been sitting on the fence about becoming an Associate Member, don't despair about the fact that we already have 16 Associate Member households. Once Full Equity 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. Click here for info on becoming an Associate Member. Yours in Community,
Mac Phase 2 Project Manager A few weeks ago we opened Associate Membership in Heartwood's Phase 2 and the response has been great, overwhelming really. There are a lot of people out there looking for a better life in community, and more specifically, a life here at Heartwood. We now have 14 Associate Member households. Thank you everyone who signed up. You are critical to the success of Phase 2. In cohousing development, it's not, "Build it and they will come.", it's, "Find out if they will come and then build it." – much less risk for everyone involved. If you missed the big Associate Membership rollout, don't despair. 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. Click here for info on becoming an Associate Member. Recent Progress As you know from my previous updates, collaborating with the County to obtain our necessary approvals is critical to the success of Phase 2. I've been meeting regularly with the La Plata County Planning Department and have completed their Feasibility Evaluation process. The results of that process look promising with seemingly no insurmountable obstacles in our path. One of the obstacles that we do face, but which we should be able to overcome, is to increase the density allowed on our land. Currently only 12 more lots would be allowed, but we'd like to possibly create 14 Phase 2 lots plus lots to allow for possible future farm housing. To increase the density, we need to amend the district map, which means submitting our amendment application by the August 1 deadline to then be considered during an October hearing. It's a slow process, but the Planning Department staff has given me confidence that we will be able to successfully amend the map. Simultaneous with amending the map, we will be applying for Conceptual Development Plan (CDP) approval with the County. I am currently working to prepare those two applications (map amendment and CDP). A necessary part of those applications is to request a specific number of lots near our cohousing cluster (cluster lots), a specific number of farm housing lots, and also possibly a specific number of lots down in the pasture (pasture lots). The cluster lots would be very similar to our existing lots, would be part of the Heartwood Cohousing community, and would share all of our community land and amenities. The possible pasture lots would be 3 to 5 acres each and would not be part of the community nor share our land and amenities. They would simply be new neighbors. One of the advantages of selling pasture lots would be to reduce the amount of pasture acreage we are responsible for stewarding. We have found stewarding pastureland to be quite a lot of work and we are committed to doing it the right way through organic farming practices. The other advantage of pasture lots is that they could make the whole Phase 2 development more economically feasible and potentially reduce the number of new households that we would add to the community. We have begun working within our community to decide how many households we may want to add to the community and whether we may want to develop pasture lots. As you can imagine, Phase 2 represents very big changes for us and those changes have come with some growing pains. We have grown to love our community as it is now, but we have also known all along that we need to develop Phase 2 in order to finally pay for all of our land. Additionally, we have come to appreciate the work and money needed to maintain our community and recognize that more hands will make for lighter work. And finally, our faith in cohousing's potential to affect positive change in a world which desperately needs more connection and community has only become stronger. Creating Phase 2 will allow more people to live in community and increase our impact in the world. Besides government approvals, the other critical piece in the development of P2 is marketing. The success with P2 Associate Membership is the big news on that front, but we have also been busy getting our 4th Friday Potlucks rolling. You've probably seen the email invitations that I've sent. Although we hold happy hours and potlucks every Friday, we are dedicating the 4th Friday of every month to reaching out to the larger community to invite them over to share a meal and get a feel for what we are all about. The Path Ahead I will continue to focus primarily on County approval and marketing. Additionally, this week I will be jumping on a plane to go to Portland, Oregon for the National Cohousing Conference. I hope to learn about current best practices in both developing and living in cohousing and to spread the word about Heartwood Cohousing. If you will be there, please let me know and we can meet up. I've had several people reply to these updates with questions. That's fantastic. I try to cover what I think is important, but obviously I can only share so much and often leave questions unanswered. Based on some of the questions I've received, I've created a Frequently Asked Questions section on the Phase 2 page on our website. If you have any questions, please check out that page and if you don't find your answer there, reply to this email and let me know. I'll get you an answer as soon as I get back from Portland. Another big event in our future is our annual fall community campout to Canyonlands National Park. This year's campout is happening from October 17 - 20. One of the great things about living in Southwest Colorado is our proximity to the vast red rock canyon country of Southeast Utah. It is truly one of the natural wonders of the world. If you would like to join the campout to get to know Heartwood community members and have fun hiking and relaxing in the desert, please let me know and I'll reserve your spot. We share the camping fees, which usually work out to be about $12 per person for the weekend. (See photos below.)   Yours in Community,
Mac Phase 2 Project Manager 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:
The benefits to you of becoming an Associate Member...
The benefits to us of having Associate Members...
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...
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 nine-seven-zero-903-9751. Yours in Community,
Mac Phase 2 Project Manager 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:
The benefits to you of becoming an Associate Member...
The benefits to us of having Associate Members...
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...
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 nine-seven-zero-903-9751. Yours in Community,
Mac Phase 2 Project Manager 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. Recent Progress 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:
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:
The Path Ahead 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. Yours in Community,
Mac Phase 2 Project Manager |
