Download 08-23-16 - Armadillo Cohousing

BohemiAustin Meeting
August 23, 2016
Potluck at Bill and Pam Glass’ House
Attendees:
Jennifer and Baby Gray
Howie & Linda
Cliff (Karen Abraham’s husband)
Karen M
Kathy Keller
Pam & Bill Glass
Celeste
Yvonne H
Objectives:

Checking in:
New folks introduced themselves:

Jennifer spoke how she found us via the Community Impact Magazine, Jennifer is
looking for a group with young children and how she was asking questions about the
Kaleidoscope community.

Cliff was here due to his wife Karen Abrahams finding this group. They live near the Y in
Oak Hill and are watching their neighborhood change and become more expensive.

Kathy (a friend and neighbor of Celeste’s) is looking to host a “golden girls” home in
South Austin. Kathy is not a realtor and is very interested in how the CodeNext meetings
are changing Austin’s zoning and addressing affordability. She attended a recent
CodeNext meeting and was impressed with the differing cohousing groups that spoke.
Survey Results

Survey results were sifted; 50% of these got approval.

Sifted again and created a narrative. We are mostly on the same page with all these
desires.

Celeste wants to see the results posted in some sort of lovely way.
Historian

We need a scrapbook and a historian or archivist to keep it.
Website

Celeste wants to work on the WordPress site, which now includes different pages based
on Creating a Life Together’s roadmap.

Same roadmap, propose SMEs for each area.

Communication, conflict resolution, real estate, zoning, financing, other communities,
marketing
Lots of free-flowing conversation
Kathy has some experience in banking and finance and access to MLS.
Howie continues to research other communities. Our group will affiliated with the Cohousing
Association of the US.
We need an attorney to vet our ideas, documents, agreements.
“Cohousing” has no ideology, 12-30 households optimal; model is tat a small core gets started,
gets financing, people line up to be part of it, professional architects and builders and yada yada
yada. It works; the process is relatively smooth.
For parents of kids, nighttime is hard, maybe a Sunday meeting.
We’ll investigate cyber meetings by phone or Skype or some other meeting software.
In exchange for a percentage of profit, real estate developer brings experience and a professional
team necessary to build a cohousing community.
Ecovillage: trying to feed yourself with this land – self-sufficiency.
Cohousing is like a condominium in that you own your place and can sell your place, balanced
by an enormous common house, lawns, gardens, parking, etc.
Developer may have an investment in it, where developer is not in residence
Mention of banks who might be interested in this project: ?
Creative Arts community: where tank farm was off Airport – an intentional community toward
art. Studio and living space.
Yvonne and Selwyn are refugees of Kaleidoscope. Land was near 183, architect involved and
affordable, architect had experience with a Boston cohousing group. 2008 crash killed this idea.
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Importance of Walkability: swimming, groceries, communities, restaurants, decent food. Do we
want to be urban, suburban, or rural?
Karen M: 45th 35th Shoal Creek and Bull Creek = the Grove. Business incubators on ground floor
with living upstairs. She is part of both groups: Boomers Collaborative and Bohemi
If not walkability, then transportation. Check on Clifford’s property?
We are looking for 3-6 acres, common house, clustered dwellings
Celeste will get admin privileges to Bohemi Facebook and WordPress sites.
Bryan Donovan, Boomers Collaborative Developer
Kaleidoscope developer –Yvonne knows him
Elgin Agrarian Community has the land and a developer. Let’s do a field trip!
Land trust – look into this. City of Austin requirements 80% of MFI; reserve 3-4 units for
affordable housing. Benefits for seniors.
Need a developer who has experience doing small projects.
Behind Bill and Pam’s house: property is 5.5 acres, Mr. Lee met with the community, talked
about solar energy.
Idea: Hire a consultant to come and talk to us.
Cliff is an architect and has designed schools, houses, gigantic house.
Assignments
Topic
Champion/Contact
Business plan
Land search
Kathy
Attorney
Kathy (Alan Ceshker)
Marketing
Group development
Yvonne
Energy planning -
Bill
Prospectus
Howie (from Karen)
Website development
Celeste
Financing, budget
Developers
Jennifer, and Pam and Bill
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