Let's Build Something Special...

Olamina Commons - Urban Microvillage  & Community 

Mission of the project

We are co-creating Olamina Commons, a residential village where abundance, decision-making and responsibilities are shared. 

This project embraces the power of collaboration, equitable living  and community  practices grounded in a new way of listening with care to one another. 

We are inspired by...

The stories and links below are inspirational models we can learn from as we move forward.

Learn about Missing Middle Housing

Opticos Design

https://opticosdesign.com/

Opticos work with the city of Winston Salem lead to adoption of new planning and development ordinances that enable building missing middle housing. See the 2019 presentation here: https://www.cityofws.org/DocumentCenter/View/1467/Missing-Middle-Housing-May-2019-PDF 


How to turn a neighborhood into a village

architect Mark Lakeman, founder of Communitecture Architecture and the City Repair Project. 

Other projects from Communitecture: Cully Green Cohousing, Cully Grove Cohousing, Sabin Green Cohousing, Mason Street Townhomes (Cohousing), Peninsula Park Cohousing, Ruth's Littlest Village (Cohousing) https://www.communitecture.net/ 

This is what 36 cohousing dwelling units in an urban location on 5 acres looks like.

Shared resources include: pool, chickens, garden, lawn, children's house, common house, work shop, art room, guest house and abundant fruit trees.

Sonora Cohousing, Tucson AZ

https://www.sonoracohousing.com/

South Park Cottages in Atlanta--a modern tiny house & cottage home community in the Atlanta metro. Includes 29 two-story small & tiny homes, 399 to 635 sqft--energy efficient with smart home features & luxe finishes. Situated on 2.5 acres around communal spaces, including walking trails, gardens & fire pits with parking on the perimeter. 

Here is a great explaination of MICROVILLAGE

A micro-village is a purposeful neighborhood that is designed to promote ommunity, interdependence, and wellness for its residents and surrounding neighbors. The design incorporates walking paths and green space in order to center human interaction and keep cars at the periphery. Micro-villages often utilize green building practices, alternative energy sources and permaculture to steward the land that they are built upon. 

Radish CoHousing

"Radish is built around the “Obvious Truth” — that people are happiest and healthiest surrounded by people they love and admire," they explain on their website. They all have their own homes, but they eat dinner together (nowadays, they have hired a cook which they can "afford to split among 20"). 

They started with a group of friends who joined together to create an LLC to buy a lot with 3 buildings, but once California changed the ADU laws, they added 2 extra structures of around 900 square feet each: one now houses a single family, and another is their community house with a kitchen, dining room, living room, and coworking space. 

Today, on their one-third-acre lot in the San Francisco Bay Area, there are 20 adults and 4 babies living in 6 buildings with 10 units. There's a 4-plex with 5 adults, 2 apartments with 2 or 4 adults upstairs and families downstairs, and 2 houses with families. 

Earthseed is a center for community resilience through cooperative ownership of land and resources. Earthseed is a transformational response to systemic oppression, committed to centering People of Color and other communities pushed to the margins.

Projects include Tierra Negra Farms near Durham, a collective of farmers, educators and cultural workers, striving to model a community-controlled food system that is just and sustainable.

https://www.instagram.com/tierranegrafarm/

https://earthseedlandcoop.org/

Building affordable duplexes that help residents generate wealth

Donovan Adesoro explains a project:

$50K lot, $250 build, Buyer has $1800 mortgage with $1200 rental income

Neighborhood gets revitalized

Financial support for a suburban home food forest.

Design principles and research into how site design support happiness and social interaction.


Foundation for Intentional Community https://www.ic.org/

Building Small

Jim Heid, FSLA

Integrating the best thinking in economic resilience, authentic placemaking, and social responsibility https://www.jheid.com/small/

The CoHousing Company

https://www.cohousingco.com/

Investing Strategies

Lili Invests breaks down house hacking (rehab, not new construction)

South Park Village

America’s First Black-Owned Tiny Home Village near Atlanta

Developer Booker T Washington

https://southparkcottages.com

Microlife Institute, Atlanta Georgia

https://www.microlifeinstitute.org/

Housing

$95K 460 sq ft cottage made of mix of new and reclaimed materials https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQfqgwzXjdw

Panelized homes by Topsider

(either for the main house or for the cottages?)

https://www.topsiderhomes.com/visit-topsider-homes-factory.php

Yes, you can permit a tiny house on a foundation. Your home can be as small as 200 square feet with at least 1 room no less than 120 square feet and a minimum ceiling height of 7 feet.  All hall ways will be required to be minimum of  36″ and any actual stairs will have to built to code. 

https://nanostead.com/#gallery

Envisioning the SITE layout

This is what typical Winston Salem suburban sprawl looks like

0.21 acres per densely packed 1900 sf house, built on slab

Minimal open space. Significant portion of land for cars, not people

This is what we are disrupting

This is what upscale urban development can look like

This is the site plan for South Park Cottages in Georgia  (SOLD OUT)

https://www.gacities.com/Resources/Reference-Articles/Combatting-the-Challenges-of-Affordable-Housing-in.aspx

This is what a pocket neighborhood in a high density neighborhood can look like. 

https://opticosdesign.com/work/wine-country-pocket-neighborhood-riverhouse/

Here is what you can do with 7 acres and mixed-sized proprties

Operates like a homeowner's association.

Each family owns their own home and shares ownership of the common house, playground, workshop and garden space. 

A portion of the 5,000-square-foot common house and the 7 acres of land is deeded with each home at closing.

https://www.prairiehillcoho.org/

Here is a conversion of existing lots to a shared common property

Chase Street Commons

1 acre with existing and new housing and shared resources

https://chasestreetcommons.org/

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3860-Chase-St-Wheat-Ridge-CO-80212/13737202_zpid/

Mix of single family codo units with shared inside 'street' with 3 common rooms on each street.

The community features 34 privately owned townhomes, a 5,000-square-foot common house with a communal kitchen and dining room, shared laundry, underground parking, organic gardens, and preserved green spaces. 

Zoning Preferences

Cotrage Court is allowed in Growth Management Areas 1, 2, 3 and maybe 4

Residential Single RS7 (.17 Urban),  RS9 (.21 Suburb),  RSQ (.11 Quadraplex)

Residential Multi RM5 (5 units per acre), RM8 (8 units per acre), RM12 (12 units per acre), RM18 (18 units per acre), RMU (Multifam unrestricted)

Mixed Use MU-S

Commercial zones: E, NB (low density), PB (high density)

Usual minimum lot shown in ()


Ideal Site Characteristics

at least 1 acre, direct road access

Any Cottage Court shall have a minimum of four (4) and a maximum of fourteen (14) units 

a primary entrance oriented toward the Courtyard Open Space. 

Ideal Site:

Zoning

House

Land

Cost


Sites considered 

4700 Wexford Rd 

4 lots, 1 older home, unusable barn

7.2 acres R9

4897 Robinhood Rd - 1 home and 7 lots 

4.2 acres total

House repairs too costly; across from town sewer but on County side so septic limits build layout.

8256 Nautical Point DR  Belews Creek NC 27009 PIN # 6980-45-9438

Cool farm house on 5 acres at the top of a hill, but AirBNB in Belews Creek is <50% capacity and 2 unsightly neighbors. 

0 Hickory Glen Rd, Winston Salem, NC 27106

RM-8-S PIN# 6817-95-2994

1.37 acres

Cool near stores but deep incline likely water issues

Commercial lots on Northampton in Walkertown (Multiple, especially old church)

Price too high

$250,000

PB Road - Lewisville

5 acres, 1 1950s house

RS9, Country Club area

Northampton - Walkertown

0 NE Northampton Dr, Winston Salem, NC 27105  (between 4020 and 4050)

$49,900 2.91 Acres


Land could be divided into 2-4 possible lots for new home builds.

Listed by: Lisa Pfefferkorn

Coldwell Banker Advantage

Source: Triad MLS,MLS#: 1103886 

Woods and Old Town - North Suburban

1.15 acres

RS9 On the 88 bus line

Here is a great explaination of MICROVILLAGE

A micro-village is a purposeful neighborhood that is designed to promote community, interdependence, and wellness for its residents and surrounding neighbors. The design incorporates walking paths and green space in order to center human interaction and keep cars at the periphery. Micro-villages often utilize green building practices, alternative energy sources and permaculture to steward the land that they are built upon. 

This is what 36 dwelling units in an urban location on 5 acres looks like.

Shared resources include: pool, chickens, garden, lawn, children's house, common house, work shop, art room, guest house and abundant fruit trees.

https://www.sonoracohousing.com/

Design principles and research into how site design support happiness and social interaction.