Fall River Herald News story

Cohousing development could be coming

By Grant Welker

Mon Jul 06, 2009, 12:38 AM EDT

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WESTPORT - Central Village could host a community where residents share everything from meals to lawnmowers to vegetables if a group of residents succeed in bringing a cohousing development to town.

The group has just launched a Web site and is promoting a meeting in Dartmouth later this month about the cohousing movement, lead by the cofounder of a renewable energy building company and a cohousing resident on Martha’s Vineyard. It is scheduled for 7 p.m. July 23 at the Apponagansett Meeting House at 850 Russells Mills Road.

“This summer is our coming out,” said Elaine Ostroff, a Planning Board member who is leading the cohousing effort in town.

The group is considering multiple sites in Central Village, and an architect will soon present a conceptual design for the community, Ostroff said. Plans call for about one-fourth of the 24 units to be designated as affordable. Most cohousing developments are that size, though some have more than 60 units.

If built, the Westport project would be the 15th in Massachusetts. The nearest is Alchemy Farm in Falmouth, a 13-unit development on 16 acres. The group planning the Westport development prefers a site of about 3 acres, Ostroff said.

“A guiding principle of Westport cohousing will be sustainability” — socially, environmentally and economically, the group’s Web site says.

The Cohousing Association of the United States, which promotes awareness and development, lists defining characteristics of cohousing developments as: a process for residents to participate in the design of the project; a design that encourages a sense of community; common facilities like a kitchen or exercise room; and a management structure run by residents.

Management is not hierarchical and residents do not share incomes.

Residents usually share two or three meals a week, baby-sit for each other and plan trips together. Most developments cluster houses together like an old village. “It’s the idea that people can walk between the houses and see each other,” Ostroff said.

The Westport cohousing group will set up a table at the Westport Farmers Market this summer and has a meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 20 at the Macomber Community House to explain their plans.

E-mail Grant Welker at gwelker@heraldnews.com.