Condo project set to begin

By Matt Batcheldor | The Olympian • Published July 20, 2008

• Comments (0)

OLYMPIA – The city is about to get its first cohousing development, in which residents get their own private living quarters but also share a large common house where they can have meals and celebrations.

The City Council approved the project last week, and the first 12 units could be finished next year on Woodard Lane on the city's west side. It's the culmination of more than three years of effort to design the project that's unique here.

Called Woodard Lane Cohousing, the 2.9-acre property eventually will have 16 units -- in three fourplexes and two duplexes, plus a common house. Cars would share a parking lot.

Groundbreaking is expected next month and the first 12 units could be finished in March or April, Liv Monroe, one of the charter residents said.

Initially, the group will use one of the first dozen units as the common area, she said.

The development should not to be confused with a commune, in which people pool their money and belongings.

"You own your space and you have your own private space and then you have the common space," Monroe said.

She likes the concept, which includes houses having less privacy, encouraging community.

"I like being in the milieu of community," she said. "I like the idea of the community I'm in being physically built so that you see your neighbors and you bump into them."

Legally, the development is considered a condominium. Residents pay dues to a homeowner's association for upkeep of the common grounds and have to live by a set of rules.

The common space would include a kitchen and perhaps a television where people could gather. It's a place to enjoy holidays, birthdays and other celebrations.

Such a development also is more ecologically friendly, she said. The multifamily homes have a smaller footprint on the earth. The homes themselves are green, built to take advantage of natural light.

The development is being managed by the residents in the form of a limited liability corporation. The builder will be Scott Bergford.

It's the first of its kind in Olympia, said Kraig Chalem, a city planner who has been working with the cohousing group.

"I don't know why nobody's done it before," he said. "I guess it's just been so easy to do subdivisions."

But the concept is popular elsewhere, particularly in this state. The Cohousing Association of the United States lists on its Web site 19 groups that either occupy cohousing or are forming in the state, including Woodard Lane. That's second only to California, which has 50.

Monroe said the cohousing movement began in Denmark in the 1970s.

She said the group is looking for more people to join the development, too. "We have homes to sell."

Matt Batcheldor covers the city of Olympia for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-704-6869 or mbatcheldor@theolympian.com.