They’re not cultists, and they don’t consider themselves hippies, either. They’re just a bunch of people who want to live together, share responsibilities and get to know each other.
More than 60 adults and children–32 intergenerational, multi-ethnic households in all–broke ground last month in Pleasant Hill for what will be California’s largest, and Contra Costa County’s first, co-housing community.
Pleasant Hill Cohousing is a type of energy-efficient, collaborative housing in which residents, while enjoying one- to four-bedroom homes with private kitchens and bathrooms, will share a community room with a dining room, lounge, meeting room and children’s playroom.
There are about 50 similar communities in North America and several in Northern California. The country’s oldest co-housing community is in Davis, Calif. It’s nine years old. There also are communities in Berkeley, Emeryville and two in Oakland. Another group of about a dozen households is looking for a site in the East Bay, and a Sonoma County group that recently secured land in Cotati is recruiting members.
Co-housing homes cost from $170,000 to $400,000 per household, said Kathryn McCamant of the CoHousing Co. in Berkeley. McCamant and her partner, Charles Durrett, are consultants and architects for the Pleasant Hill community. They help prospective cohabitants with everything from forming their groups and finding sites to creating the designs and understanding costs. They’ve worked on more than 30 projects in the United States and Canada.
“The ownership (of a co-housing home) is like any other townhouse development with a homeowners association,” McCamant said.
McCamant and Durrett imported co-housing to the United States from Scandinavia in the 1980s, with their book, “Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves.”
“The really unique thing about it is that future buyers and residents are really involved and are co-developers in the project,” McCamant said. “(Members of Pleasant Hill Cohousing) have been working together for almost a year and half, and the initial group started three years ago.”
Pleasant Hill Cohousing is a far cry from the stereotypical ’60s commune. Members, who are mostly from the Bay Area, include architects, educators, school psychologists, therapists, a violinist, Web-designers and retirees.
On the outside, their community will look like ordinary condominiums, said Walnut Creek resident Barbara Lynch, who founded the Pleasant Hill group with her husband, Ted.
“When I think of communal living, I think of sharing everything and putting all your resources in one basket,” she said. “We’re not doing that. We’ll make the choice of what responsibilities we want to share.”
Lynch, 57, said she was inspired by a magazine article a few years ago and started researching the architecture and fundamentals of co-housing. She and Ted traveled the country, researching about 10 co-housing communities with the idea of joining one.
“We decided we wanted to stay here,” she said. In 1997, the couple started holding meetings and recruiting members for their own group with letters and ads.
Finding the right place to build was the biggest challenge, Lynch said. It took about a year and a half to land their Pleasant Hill spot, and when they did, their group doubled in size. The community will sit on 2.2 acres on Lisa Lane, adjacent to the Iron Horse Trail and Monument Boulevard. Just north of Fair Oaks Elementary School, the project is scheduled to be finished next fall. Members have been meeting weekly to discuss design and physical layout, using several energy-efficient and environmentally friendly elements. For instance, the houses will have extra insulation and deep overhangs for shade. The community room will have a passive cooling tower, and the units will use radiant floor heating. The decks are being built from recycled plastic.
Hashing out the design and making financial decisions together gave members a chance to bond and get a sense of what it will be like to live near one another.
“We’re already discovering whether we get along,” said Pat McBroom, a future resident. “If we don’t get along, then we drop out.”
Along the way, several people who showed interest later opted out.
“We had a couple in which the husband was much more sold on the idea than his wife,” Lynch said. If members decide to drop out later in the game, they can sell their homes, she said. There are already several people on a waiting list to move in.
Lynch said she doesn’t think it’s likely, but even if there are members who find they can’t stand each other, it won’t be a problem.
“The group is large enough that if there is someone you don’t get along with, you can avoid them,” she said.`The really unique thing about it is that future buyers and residents are really involved and are co-developers in the project.’
