White Pine Cohousing Community

Description:

White Pine Cohousing is a six unit community on 41 acres of meadow and forest land located in rural central Vermont, just outside of Montpelier. The houses are clustered on the south side of the seven acre meadow to enhance solar exposure and maintain the open fields for gardens, wildlife and activities. We aim to create and maintain a residential community that both respects individual needs and expects member participation in managing the social and physical requirements of the community. We have village-like informal connections and use a consensus decision-making process. Our individually owned homes were built with environmentally sound construction, are super insulated, share a common heating system and have small ecological footprints.

Living here means that you will have wonderful, mutually supportive neighbors (if we do say so ourselves!), but also means that you will have agreed to certain processes and obligations which are unlike just buying a house in a regular neighborhood. These processes, guidelines and obligations are included in our Resident Handbook, By-laws and Declaration which you will receive if you continue with our new member process. They include:

Any potential new resident will go through our new member process, which will include filling out a questionnaire and meeting with the other residents/members of White Pine Cohousing. As part of the new member process you will need to provide credible documentation of your financial ability to purchase the house and live in the community.

Basic community expectations:

We have monthly meetings where issues related to our common lives and property are discussed and decided on.

We use a consensus decision-making process.

We also have shared meals together two times a month, where attendance is encouraged.

During warmer weather we have monthly 3 or 4-hour work parties where we do grounds maintenance and other, usually outdoor, projects.

There is a yearly fee, similar to a condominium fee, which pays for shared infrastructure expenses such as plowing, heating system expenses, and road, grounds and septic maintenance. Additionally, we currently have a wood pellet boiler which provides baseline heat to all of the houses. You will be assessed a portion of the wood pellet bill according to your usage, in addition to a share of heat for the barn (our common building) .

If you feel our community may be a good fit for you, and you might be a good fit for our community and would like to proceed, we would love to meet you!