Cohousing project emphasized 'intentional community'
By Lorien Bourne

Daybreak Cohousing is constructing a cohousing complex in the Overlook neighborhood that will offer new residents privacy and independence as well as a shared space that fosters community.

The site on North Killingsworth just off North Greeley includes a 50-year-old maple tree, which the group plans to preserve.  Buildings will be two, three and four stories tall, connected with exterior walkways.  Cohousing is a form or residential building that has appeared in the northwest in recent years, in which residents live in private units but share certain facilities such as kitchens and dining facilities communally.

Tiffany Yelton, a member at Daybreak Cohousing, said an important aspect of the new facilities will be the common area.  “We have specifically placed our Common House on the more public part of the community so it can be shared with the rest of the neighborhood.  We don’t know exactly what that will mean in the long term, but we anticipate that it will be a neighborhood resource for meetings and other gatherings,” Yelton said.

According to the group’s website “Cohousing is a type of intentional community in which residents actively participate in the design, governance and operation of their own community and often play an active role in their neighborhood as well. Daybreak Cohousing will be a dense, urban village with a physical design that encourages social interaction while respecting the need for private space. Our homes will have most of the features of conventional homes, and we also will be able to enjoy extensive common facilities.”

“What is special about our community is the people who are part of it.  Everyone helps get the work done, shares their skills and talents, enjoys each other’s company and we laugh a lot,” Yelton said.

According to Terri Huggett, Daybreak Cohousing will expect its residents will display a commitment to building a community together.

“The commitment that is required of all of us to make this dream come true is very special to me.  It is a commitment to each other that is making it possible to build this place that together we will call home,” said Huggett.

Construction on the project will begin in the spring of 2008 and end by mid-2009.  Prospective community members are invited to informal community meetings, held two times a month, once on the first Sunday of the month and once on another day toward the middle of the month.  Meeting locations change,  there is a link to their blog on our website, www.stjohnssentinel.com.

For more information about Daybreak Cohousing as well as goals and plans for the community, and how you can join, contact Tiffany at (503) 236-6035 or email her at tiffany@daybreakcohousing.org.