The Co-Housing project in Lincoln county Oregon has an update on the status.
1 The two “L” shaped lots at Collins and Combs in Depoe Bay have been sold. A local developer and contractor team purchased the property in the summer. The owner of the lot on Combs stated his part of the planned development is to be abandoned.
2 The price for the 50 x 100 parcel on Combs Ave is available for $100K. This is $25K less than was stated in the initial description.
3 The lots are available separately.
The owner budgeted $300K for the property and installation of a prefabricated home with services, fees and inspections.
Proposal for a Mini Senior Co-Housing Project Where: Corner of Combs and Collins, Depoe Bay, Oregon Why: More and more Baby Boomers are retiring and looking for an “aging in place” alternative to slick long-term Senior Living Communities or premature dependence on “nursing home facilities”. Also, most recent Depoe Bay Demographics show that the mean age of our own population is 58 – nearing the age of retirement. What: What we are hoping to design, and are seeking an investor/investors to help us develop, includes all the benefits of old time neighborhoods where mutually supportive, organic connections are built over time. What we are envisioning includes handicap parking accessibility and a fully wheel chair accessible downstairs living space as well as an additional upstairs attic bedroom with full bathroom, providing privacy for another family member, housemates, a potential live in caregiver, or overnight guests. Visiting grandkids would have access to an on site play area, centered in between individual residences, surrounded by a small community garden/picnic area where all of our backyards converge. Each lot plan includes a detached garage/workshop with a small upstairs studio space overlooking the ocean, so residents can continue pursuing their hobbies whether that be wood working, pottery, gardening, painting, arts and crafts, writing the next great novel, or fixing fine meals in a safe, peaceful, beautiful, and supportive environment. Benefits to this village, our neighborhood, potential investor(s), and the sellers: 1. Well thought out design of this highly visible corner, right across the street from our central city parking lot, would add picturesque curb appeal, with unique vintage era architecture and landscaping that fits in seamlessly with our seaside village aesthetic. 2 For the sellers who are local business owners, this would be attractive to tourists and also create social capital with existing locals in this neighborhood who much prefer an alternative to high rise townhouses blocking their ocean views. 3 Rather than a legally binding cooperative with CC&Rs, we would like to promote, instead, an informal senior co-housing vision which is designed to accommodate any disabilities that may pre-exist, or might arise, while “aging in place” within a supportive and electively interdependent environment. Options will be built into our property design for the sharing of workshop/art studio space, produce from on site fruit trees, flower and veggie gardens, rides to the doctor, kitty sitting, backyard BBQ’s. Individual residents would be free to participate in these opportunities for cooperative community building as much or as little as they feel inspired and/or able. 4 Each lot is being designed with a two bedroom, modest vintage style home similar to our own house at 23 Williams Ave which currently shares a backyard fence with these available properties. The new homes will meet present zoning standards and potentially accommodate up to four compatible residents. 5 This project will not only beautify the whole corner where our street, Williams Ave, meets Collins, but add a feeling of enhanced visual cohesion to the whole area, placed in such a central part of the village, only one long block behind commercial retail shops. 6 Thus, this development will be within easy walking distance to a local medical clinic, the harbor, many restaurants, art galleries, the bay, and the beach. 7 It will also be embedded in a neighborhood already occupied by long term homeowners, mostly retired, very welcoming, and already electively supportive of one another. 8 These neighbors will benefit from this addition of a similar demographic which both preserves and improves their current visual experience by overlooking homes which reflect our vintage seaside charm, adding flower gardens, wending pathways, plus gated, rose trellised archways between individual properties. There will also be a bit more visual buffer between their homes and the commercial area while retaining their full ocean views. 9 The type of potential investor(s) we are seeking will appreciate and fully embrace the multiple benefits of this elective co-housing vision, and, being in synch with this concept, feel a vested interest in this unique opportunity to become an engaged participant themselves. 10 Purchasing both lots would allow for an individual resident or couple to co-create their own home on one of these lots, then receive a return on their initial investment through rental income, or through the sale of a similar residence, on the second lot. How: The cost per 50 x 100 sq ft lot is $125K /$250 for both. We are already taking first steps by submitting sample drawings to a city planner for review, researching cost to build per sq ft, cost of building permits per sq ft, and cost of hooking up new services. The goal is to keep final total costs down to a modest level ($350—$500K) per lot after completed development, depending on size of home. (We will have more specific numbers upon request including comparative cost for other “aging in place” options/comparative local properties.) Who: Please contact Erin O’Shaughnessy/ Jeff Land (owners of 23 Williams Ave) @ 541-621-1796 jeffland@astound.net
About this Photo Presentation For viewers who are unfamiliar with our Depoe Bay area, we created this visual window into how the immediate environment surrounding our property looks right now and it’s potential for optimum transformation. Contents include: 1 Written Co-Housing proposal 2 Photos of our own home and surrounding properties in the context of this existing neighborhood 3 An overview of the natural beauty here, including harbor, bay, and beaches 4 Other nearby attractions 5 Sample “to scale” drawings of potential new dwelling units with detached studios on two presently available empty lots plus estimated costs 6 A variety of possible architectural and landscaping designs If you are reading this now, it is because you have already expressed an interest, or because we think you are someone who might already relate to the desirability of participating in a mini elective Co-Housing project. We also encourage you to pass this information along to others, but only if you know them well enough to recommend them as participants. We are not seeking just an investor. For the spirit of this idea to truly work as intended, there will need to be some inherently shared values, aesthetics, and interests. So we are hoping to “vet” potential investors and find someone who is more than just a speculator looking for monetary profit. If we do nothing, someone random will soon purchase these lots and this window of opportunity will close. The small yellow house for sale next door to us just closed at approximately $300K, and the two empty back lots behind us have recently been significantly dropped in price. Much speculative new construction on the outskirts of our village is booming. Even if you yourself are not personally interested in participating, we would ask that you help us by holding this possibility in your mind’s eye while imagining the best outcome for the village as a whole, our neighborhood, and the land upon which we are living. It is not our intent to set a “forever future” in stone. We are holding this as a co-creatively fluid endeavor where mature, open-hearted, like-minded people work together toward building something which is not only beautiful, but voluntarily cooperative, flexible, and organically bountiful. I’ve had 14 years of experience – first helping to found – then serving as the supervisor/director for a 501-c3 enterprise bound by government rules and regulations. In our 6th year, we even won a 1996 Santa Cruz Sustainable Quality Award for our innovative East/West Mind/Body Project. I understand well the trade offs involved even while achieving success within the constraints of non-profit and for profit rules and regulations. (For more detail see: https://www.alignable.com/depoe-bay-or/e-o-shaughnessy-creative-living-consultant) Top priority for this endeavor is to simply co-create a few enduring habitable structures with some communal landscaping which helps to preserve, enhance, and integrate the best of what this village already has to offer. We then plan to further co-create a successful example of interdependent living which naturally inspires ongoing sustainability. We are not interested in attempting to control the ultimate outcome through restrictions which bind all future generations to conformity. The main objective here is to seek and to find present day, fully engaged participants who already embody and, will, to the best of their ability, adhere to this vision from the inside out. Owners will retain a right to will whatever we, in good faith, have accomplished to our individual beneficiaries who might then, possibly, over time, transform what we first envisioned for our own retirement into a mini co-housing neighborhood with young families and a few remaining elders. We understand this sounds idealistic and it is, admittedly, an experiment, although, in our estimation, a worthy and timely one.
Closing Overview of Costs and Vision The two photo collages (at beginning and end of this presentation) represent an overall “feeling” created by these vintage structures and the outdoor spaces surrounding them once the landscaping has matured. We envision flagstone pathways, wending through a flourishing flower garden located in each back yard – extending from a freestanding workshop to a central common area. Each pathway will connect with the common ground through an arched arbor and small gate matching, in character, the individual fences. Inside of that common space there will be a co-created community garden, picnic area, and play structure. Our desired parameters include an interestingly pitched roof line that does not exceed 30 feet in height at any point, plus picket, grape stake, or other aesthetically pleasing fencing demarcating all back boundaries – with the exception of one quarter circle (one pie slice per property) dedicated to some common ground where all 4 lots meet. Although we are presenting this one sample grid drawing to scale, showing setbacks and required parking spaces, there are many other vintage style homes which would fit within city rules and regulations. We are currently building a greenhouse and have already planted 5 Alaskan cedars along our back property line which we intend to train, then prune just high enough to have a feeling of some privacy without blocking our existing neighbor’s ocean views. We also have dwarf fig, apple, and cherry trees, currently growing in large containers, which we intend to plant behind our own free-standing garage in that central area, so that they can become part of the community garden. Each lot is 100 x 50 = 5000 sq ft and is priced at $125 K – this property could be purchased by one investor or by two cooperating investors, but the sale price assumes purchase of both lots concurrently for a total of $250K. $200 sq ft is the current (low to median) approximate cost for modest conventional construction. Homes we have been considering as ideal are slightly less, or slightly more, than 1000 sq ft. Our home is 830 sq ft and we are planning to add our own freestanding (30’s era) garage with an upstairs art studio in the next several years. Service hooks up per lot will be approximately $20,000 Permits are $1 per sq ft of construction Minimum total cost for development of both parcels at 800 sq ft home with 187 sqft out building is at $350K per lot, sans plans
B.Y.O.Drawings Please submit questions/requests for additional info to: Jeffland@astound.net
Original Statement of Vision We are hoping to open a conversation with anyone out there who is highly creative and community/ecologically-minded, but also more familiar with the nuances of property investment, property management, and community development and/or intentional community projects than we are. We happen to be living in one of the most beautiful places on Earth – in a tiny village overlooking the central Oregon coast where property prices are under half of what similar lots would cost in California. And at this moment, we also happen to be surrounded by 3 of these lots that are up for sale as well – one right next door to us and two sharing our back fence line. We have a “people’s owned and operated” utilities company instead of PG&E, no power or internet outages even during extremely stormy weather, no sales tax, minimal traffic, and a much more mellow vibe on every level – even less stressed, very open-hearted, holistically minded medical practitioners. For decades back in Santa Cruz County, my artist friends and colleagues within our therapist/mindfulness community wondered about how in the world to proactively create a more sustainable, heart-centered, affordable living situation for “aging in place” than some outrageously expensive, institutional-feeling, extended care facility. Young families also struggled with similar questions. Likeminded friends across the whole “stages of life” continuum checked out places like Chico’s co-housing project where young families and elders had their own separate homes supported by some shared resources and community spaces. When I decided to sell my property in the Santa Cruz mountains two years ago, laying some groundwork for my own retirement and looking to escape the rapidly increasing cycle of evacuations for fire danger, atmospheric rivers, and associated power and other technological outages, I was able to pay off my mortgage and still have enough equity in my home of 23 years to buy our little bit of Heaven – here – outright. But even before I made that leap of faith, I kept having a vision pop into my mind of creating some sort of “mini-commune”. Not an official one with board meetings and lots of rules and red tape, but a collection of kindred spirits who just enjoyed, respected, and wanted to support one another in building the highest quality of life and care for the world surrounding them possible. Then, within the same year that I moved here, I rather miraculously met my current life partner and, shortly afterwards, these three contiguous lots all came on the market. Really, I am just wanting to put the word out about them to the right people. I know this is probably going to be a long shot, maybe even something akin to sending a missive out to sea in a bottle, but I do keep on feeling called to explore what might be possible when imagining the best fate of the land for sale immediately surrounding our home here in Depoe Bay, Oregon. I am still hoping to put this idea out in the most appropriate and effective ways. I don’t want to “push the river” or get caught up in trying to force any round pegs into square holes. However, I would like some help with holding space for this vision, in case it is meant to materialize. I am focusing on drawing in the best possible long-term outcome for everyone involved, including the land itself and all of our surrounding ecosystems. This village is centered in a very sacred feeling setting. Famous for our yearlong whale watching tours and spectacular “king tides”, our neighborhood is nestled just two blocks above the village, overlooking both the sea and a baby otter birthing area at Pirates Cove. We are already blessed by the kindest, sweetest, most welcoming neighbors and we would love to attract similarly big-hearted newcomers who are attuned to the inherent magic of this particular spot and just naturally want to preserve all the best of what this special place has to offer. I can also easily imagine a “community” flower and/or vegetable garden behind our backyard greenhouse and, most ideally, a cooperative approach to sharing other potential resources such as building supplies, tools, or the mutual use of workshop, art, and crafting spaces, plus occasional house or kitty sitting exchanges. I can see an informal kind of co-housing arrangement for seniors who might help one another with rides to medical appointments as needed – or a mini artists’ cooperative – where high functioning, independently thriving people maintain their own private housing but come together interdependently around their common values, and create homes which blend idiosyncratically yet seamlessly into this vintage seaside aesthetic. If you have read this far, thank you for your interest and your tenacity. Any constructive feedback or ideas about spreading the word most effectively would be deeply appreciated. For anyone seriously interested, I can provide many photos of this village, the surrounding bay, harbor, and other attractions/amenities, along with photos of our home and some examples of the new construction we are hoping to build in order to keep this neighborhood feeling “vintage”.
Co-Housing in Depoe Bay 