We've bought land!
From: Robin Allison (ecohousingxtra.co.nz)
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 04:00:53 -0500
Hello everyone,

This is a somewhat delayed but joyful announcement now that I'm getting
my breath back.........we have bought land!!!!!!!! After nearly 4 years
of preparation, Waitakere Eco-Neighbourhood Cohousing Project, in
Auckland, New Zealand, put a deposit 4 weeks ago on a beautiful 1.67 Ha
(4 acre) property in Ranui (on the western edge of the Auckland suburban
area). It has been an organic orchard for 30 years, and is just dripping
with fruit at the moment; apples, pears, feijoas, kiwifruit, guavas,
plums, grapefruit, etc, etc. We'll be saving as many of these as we can,
and planting more. It's 30 seconds walk from the metropolis of Ranui (a
dairy, 2 x medical centres, bakery, chemist, hairdresser, community
centre, library), 7 minutes walk from the railway, 5 minutes drive to
the motorway (then 15 minutes into the centre of Auckland); in short,
just perfectly placed for access to community facilities and public
transport, if a little further out of town than we'd hoped. 

It's a really exciting and busy time, selecting architects and a project
manager and completing legal documents. The project budget is taking
shape, and promotion and membership activities are in full swing. As the
first cohousing project in New Zealand to get this far, there's a lot of
pioneering work in choosing the best development structure to suit our
laws, but we find a lot of enthusiasm and support for the project, and
it's great to hear all the learnings from the list! We
take over the property in November this year, and plan to begin
construction in October 2000. 

We plan to build 26 houses and a common house, with associated commonly
owned facilities and open space. As well as passive solar design,
sustainable and non-toxic materials and other 'green' architecture
principles, we're planning to incorporate solar hot water heaters,
rainwater tanks, and on-site stormwater disposal, grey water recycling
and waste-water treatment on a neighbourhood scale.

Half of the 26 units have so far been spoken for by members active in
the project. In the next few months we'll be refining what we want and
designing our community in association with our architects. So it's
really full on! Meetings, meetings, meetings. The next couple of years
will be enormously challenging I'm sure, but now we are grounded. We've
planted our first tree.

Robin Allison
Waitakere Eco-Neighbourhood Cohousing Project
Auckland, New Zealand.


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