Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Living Lightly

[RAYGASSER (RAYGASSER]

Zev,
EcoVillage at Ithaca specifically picked a site just outside of Ithaca, at
the point where the suburban sprawl is sprawling. We rejected sites distant
from downtown, and also in the downtown area, because we want to be a model
for how to de-sprawl (would that be accepted in a Scrabble game?). The edges
of towns are where the suburban expansion is. If towns are going to expand
(and it seems they're not stopping soon), they can do so in the "standard
model" of suburbia, or, hopefully, in another way. We're hoping to be one
of the other ways.

One of the compelling reasons for our buying the specific 176 acre plot we
got is that it's the last (or close to it) large parcel that close to town.
It had previously been planned & platted for 150 houses at about 1 acre each
covering the entire parcel. We wanted to show that it can be done differently.

Granted, it's more "green" to re-use existing structures and save all of
the farmland & undeveloped areas in an unspoiled state. Unfortunately, if
we didn't buy it, someone with whole different kind of plan would have, and
we didn't want to see a WalMart up on that hill (we're having enough problems
with the one they're trying to build  down the hill....). And we couldn't
afford to buy the land on the hill, and create the community in town.

(Actually, there's one small area of Ithaca that has become heavily
populated by our group. And one specific short street that has 5 or 6 of
us our households living on it. I'm in that general area, and sometimes
wonder why I'm going to move away when the village is finished).

Ray Gasser
EcoVillage at Ithace
raygasser [at] delphi.com