Update on Sunnyside Village Cohousing’s path – from inspired vision, to boots on the ground build…
Sunnyside Village, located 30 miles north of Seattle, is Washington State’s newest cohousing community to progress from an inspired dream to homes under construction. It’s hard to believe that four years after the purchase of our five acres of land, neighboring one of the Salish Sea’s many estuaries, we are – drum roll – well into our community’s building phase!
A little bit of history and where we are today.
While there were many years of work leading up to the land purchase for our future community, the purchase of the property made it real – changing our shared vision into something tangible. Shortly after starting work with our professional partners, it became evident that privately owned detached homes with shared common areas best met our needs, blended with the greater community, and supported land use.
Soon after COVID arrived, and Zoom meetings quickly found their place in our everyday lives. As a community operating under Sociocratic principles it wasn’t too long before our decision-making circles were in place – Development, Finance, Legal, Marketing, Membership, Information Technology. Outreach through our Marketing Circle was a lot of work and surprisingly fun. Every spring year after year we achieve a significant boost in membership. We have begun to think of it as our community’s spring rite of passage.
As the community takes shape, there are a couple of milestones – past and future – that stand out. The purchase of the property in 2019. The submission of our Preliminary Plat application in September 2022. The approval of the larger Land Use Application in April 2023, and starting construction of the roads and utilities in September of that year. Construction of our homes will start in July of this year, just a few months down the road, with move-in dates staggered over the following 9 to 18 months. Our Common house is slated to be built on the front end of construction, but it has a lot to do with what works best for the work crews and movement of heavy construction equipment. So, stay tuned!
It takes a lot of friends, and support from our intentional housing community, to build a village.
With all of the excitement of seeing things changing under and above ground it’s sometimes easy to overlook the people and professional teams doing the work behind the scenes. We are particularly grateful to have them joining us on this journey. Our thanks go to Karen Gimnig our professional facilitator, Grace Kim and Miles Cook our architects at Schemata Workshop, and Andy, Daniel, Justin, Mike, Nina, and Sam, at Green Canopy NODE our developer and general contractor. Last, I want to thank my new neighbors and friends – the members and new homeowners at Sunnyside Village. This has been quite a ride; we are so looking forward to our first move-in house party!
Early on and throughout this process the non-profit intentional and cohousing communities provided education, kept us inspired, reassured, and on track. Whether you are looking for, creating, living in, or running a cohousing community, these are the sites to check out. We pass along our thanks to each of them.
- The Cohousing Association of the United States, cohousing.org
- Foundation for Intentional Community, ic.org
- NW Intentional Communities Association, nwcommunities.org
- Sociocracy For All, SociocracyForAll.org
Get caught up on Sunnyside, watch this video:
The path ahead
If you’re interested in less loneliness and more hanging out with others, greater support for your busy family, a community that takes care of the environment, and nurtures a healthier lifestyle – check us out. Take a look at our Sunnyside Village website and if Sunnyside feels like the right cohousing community for you, attend one of our weekly Introductory Zoom Meetings.
Not sure why exactly but spring is a particularly busy time at Sunnyside for new members and home sales. Twenty-eight of our 32 homes have already sold. If cohousing in the Pacific Northwest resonates with you, now is the time to act.
Best, Norm
SunnysideVillageCohousing.com
And of course, if you have any questions feel free to send us an e-mail.