Cohousing-L Mailing List: Three Groves Poll Results

[Janet Pelletier (janet.h.pelletier]

Per an earlier request, I'm summarizing the results from our recent Poll
that asked prospective members what it would take before they would make a
commitment to join Three Groves Ecovillage. For those of you not aware of
our status, we have the land secured, our Zoning Amendment just passed, and
we were contemplating whether we had enough momentum to continue to Design.

Given the current economy and uncertainty in people's lives, it perhaps
should not have surprised us that people wanted to know firm prices and
exact floor plans before committing. We got this response from both people
who were very familiar with the need for very early involvement to create
coho, and from people who are new to coho concepts. Follow-ups suggesting
that they might like to join us to help with design and pricing, and to
ensure that they understood the value of early involvement were not
productive. (As with many other communities, early joiners also get best
pick of lots and potential financial advantage.) I am unsure whether this
pattern would be repeated in areas where coho is more established. The
nearest built coho to us is about 2 hours away.

The good news is that we have decided to proceed with the Design Phase, and
in fact, have verbal commitment for investor equity sufficient to see us
through the Design Phase. (We are exuberant!) We will be interviewing
prospective Architect firms this winter, and hope to begin Design Charettes
in January/February timeframe. Stay tuned at our website where we post
updates when we have them, and prize-winning poetry from our children when
updates are scarce.

Hope this is helpful. I would be interested to hear what feedback others are
getting if they also decided to send out a Poll along similar lines.

--Janet Pelletier

Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done and why. Then
do it. -- Robert Heinlein (1907 - 1988)

Three Groves Ecovillage
West Grove, PA  (SW of Philly, near DE)
Building a Green Community Together.
www.threegrovesecovillage.org