What makes for being a good neighbor? According to those who live at the CoHo Ecovillage in South Corvallis, Robert Frost had it wrong when he said it was fences. They say it’s trust and communication.
Over the past 15 years, the 70 or so residents of this intentional and intergenerational cohousing village have done the work – and play – to create a successful community sharing vision and purpose.
Cohousing
According to a Money Crasher’s article on communal living, cohousing is an arrangement in which many people live together in a community, with small homes for each person or family and larger areas that are shared by all. People who live in cohousing arrangements can save money, share chores, enjoy group activities, and form lasting friendships.
In the late 1990s, Bruce and Jude Hecht, who had lived in Corvallis since 1980, started researching the cohousing concept, defined on their website as an intentional community of private homes clustered around shared space. Households have independent incomes and private lives, but neighbors collaboratively plan and manage community activities and shared spaces. The couple went on a nationwide tour to find a community to join, and didn’t find one they liked. It was then they decided to build a cohousing group in Corvallis.
According to the Cohousing Association of the United States, there are about 300 such communities in existence or under development, with 30 being here in Oregon. Cohousing communities can have anywhere from 7 to 67 individual units, but most have between 20 and 40. A single community can house a wide range of households, including single people, childless couples, parents with children from newborn to college age, and retirees. CoHo Ecovillage is the first here in Corvallis.
CoHo Ecovillage
The Hechts started with reaching out to find like-minded people, holding events around the city to explain the concept and vision of collaborative living. In order to build the planned 33 homes and common house on the 6.8 acres on SE Crystal Lake Drive, they needed the-then county property to be annexed by the City. In June of 2004, annexation was passed by a landslide of 71%. They broke ground and finalized plans for 34 homes, consisting of 18 townhouses and 16 flats in the Spring of 2005, then started moving in October of 2007.
They then needed to name their new village. At an early community meeting, one member said “Let’s use the name CoHo—like the coho salmon, as a symbol for a healthier relationship with the environment” and the rest of the community – all three households at that time – drawled in a distinctive Corvallis fashion, “Yesirreeee.”
It Starts With Trust
Sitting down with three long-time residents, we learned more about the successes and challenges over the years.
Richard Hervey, a former city councilor for Ward 3, joined the project in 2004. April and Craig Hall Cutting of Wild Yeast Bakery signed up in 2005. They all lit up when going over the shared vision and purpose statements – especially the part about living and playing together.
“The key thing about living in community is trusting each other,” said Hervey. During the early days of planning, Hervey described weekly meetings that were two and a half hours long. While that may seem like a huge commitment, the payoff was getting to know his future neighbors very well.
The three residents agreed that when the community trusts each other, it’s easier to build consensus for decisions, which is one of the declared shared values they all believe in.
Compassionate Communication
To aid such a large, diverse group trust each other takes work. The diversity of the 70 residents includes eleven families with children ages two-17, fourteen single people, ten empty-nesters, and many people over 65 who are still working with about a dozen who have retired. Like many American neighborhoods, they come from all sorts of cultures with ancestral backgrounds that include Chinese, Swiss, Seminole-African-Hispanic, Mauritian, Ethiopian, Australian, and Euro-American.
April Hall Cutting described how in the early years the community hired facilitators to train the group in what they call “compassionate communication.” This includes allowing people to express themselves and learning to listen without interruption, allowing that individuals will have opinions and experience to share, and being able to sit in uncomfortable feelings within the larger groups.
April Hall Cutting said, “The training includes self-awareness. Knowing that your reactions to others stem from your own internal triggers, reflecting on that and learning to communicate this awareness.” At this point, when new people move into the community they are now trained by the other, well-versed residents.
Communication Skills In Action
If you look at the buildings now, they are all rainbow colors. However, when the units were first built, they were earth tones “eco village pastels” to reflect the eco in eco village. Grays, muted reds and tans.
At the ten-year mark in 2014, when it was time to repaint the buildings, members brought up changing the colors. There were lots of opinions, said April Hall Cutting. Some didn’t like the grays, which reflected the often-seen Oregon skies, and others didn’t want change.
Everyone – consisting of about 30-40 people at that time – had to sit in a room to address the issue and reach a consensus decision.
Where in the past they would have brought in trained facilitators, that time, the answer came from a resident. One of the members is a therapist, and she suggested different methods to get everyone to coordinate and create a solution. It worked, and the group decided on the new, brighter colors we see now.
Hervey affirmed that while it was a difficult challenge, it helped them grow as a community. They see challenges are a good thing and have learned how to not let them be obstacles.
It’s Not All Work
CoHoots – the term they use for people who live at CoHo – meet three or four times a week for common meals. Not only dinners, common time can vary from Saturday breakfast, to Tea Time, to wine and cheese nights.
People volunteer to cook and clean. There is a head chef who organizes the meal. While residents have cooking skills, those who don’t have the opportunities to learn. They have an “assistant chef” position specifically for people to learn and grow – becoming head chef when they’re ready. Craig Cutting Hall, with his depth of experience through his business Wild Yeast, enjoys teaching classes on bread making.
They also have game nights – with up to two dozen people playing board games – and now Monday night music. One couple has even started ballroom dancing. Offerings have grown out of being a community and supporting one another’s interests.
One day a month they have work parties doing maintenance and other outdoor chores which they call CoHo Days. They include a group lunch and then the business meeting. There are teams – building/maintenance, grounds, finance/business, common house and more. Each team has authority over budgets, so they don’t waste time requesting funds for their projects. The social atmosphere working side-by-side is yet another way they get to further know each other.
Work From Home
Usually entrepreneurs struggle with lack of support and isolation. That doesn’t seem to be the case for CoHoots as there are around 16 businesses based at CoHo.
Jason and Celia Hilkey have created a successful parent coaching business called Happily Family. Jeremy Groom offers statistical analytics. Peter Erskine, who is currently working on a project in another country, owns Solar Spectrum Arts. He created the rainbow effect in the CoHo common room as well as the one at the Corvallis Public Library.
The Pandemic
COVID-19 brought in a new set of consensus building skills.
The residents at CoHo had to shift to using Zoom instead of gathering in the community center. The way the buildings are set up, they didn’t have total isolation. Most units have sliding glass doors that face the common area paths.
April Cutting Hall said it was nice to be able to see neighbors walk by through doors. Later they were able to have outdoor meals together, interacting under covered areas.
Last year, they participated in the Southtown Art Walk with residents vending in the community center, which offered enough distancing space and everyone wore face masks. Now that restrictions have lifted, they are still communicating about gatherings, staying sensitive to each neighbor’s needs and requests.
A Role Model
“The people at CoHo are so warm and welcoming,” said Hyatt Lytle, who took over from Hervey as Ward 3 City Councilor in South Corvallis. “They’ve invited me to use their facilities. I’ve held around four meetings for constituents in their common room, and held some campaign events.”
Lytle admires the project and claims the neighborhood housing model is exemplary. “It would be great to have their format, processes and friendly community replicated for more housing projects around town.”
By Stacey Newman Weldon
Correction: At the request of someone mentioned in the article, their name has been removed.
Do you have a story for The Advocate? Email editor@corvallisadvocate.com