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Olamina Commons - Urban Microvillage & Community
Mission of the project
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.
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/
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/
Cottages on Vaughn
0.5 acre lot, a block from downtown Clarkston in the Atlanta Metro. Includes 8 tiny homes & micro-cottages situated around a common green space with edible regenerative landscaping. Total project costs: $1.2M including land acquisition and infrastructure.
$110K costs per home were sold for $175K average.
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.
Learn about Missing Middle Housing
Opticos Design
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
Foundation for Intentional Community https://www.ic.org/
Building Small
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
The CoHousing Company
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
Tiny House Village sampler
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
3 acres
29 free standing homes
330 to 700 sq ft homes
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.
1.37 acres
8 Cottages, 4 ADUs
Cottage (1220 sf), ADU (400 sf)
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
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
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
RS9
GMA 1, 2, 3
Good school District
Town Water
Town Sewer
House
Existing structure with reasonable repairs needed (<$35K)
3 or more BR
Additional outbuildings would be great
Land
Easy to subdivide
Frontage or good shape for cottage court
1-5 acres
Pass Perc Test
Places to put houses
Cost
Starting place < $500K from purchase to livable/rentable
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
PB Road - Lewisville
5 acres, 1 1950s house
RS9, Country Club area
Northampton - Walkertown
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
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.
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