Eco Village - Ithaca grows a good deal of its own food; residents compost their garbage; the amount of water used is reduced due to the use of toilets that only use 1.5 gallons of water per flush; and the community has an active recycling program. The community garden and family gardens use water that is redirected from roof drains.

The community’s “ecological footprint” is at least 40 percent less than that of typical U.S. neighborhoods in terms of the use of gas and electricity.

We believe that:

1. There is a population of residents that care about the sustainability of Long Island’s environment and are willing to live in a community dedicated to this purpose.
2. There is a population of residents who oppose racial segregation and are prepared to reside in a racially and culturally diverse community.
3. There is a population of older residents that wish to down-size and live in a sustainable, intergenerational, diverse community.
4. There are housing developers on Long Island that wish to establish a housing development dedicated to these objectives.
5. There is available public land on which to construct this housing at prices that are affordable to low and middle class families.
6. Recent surveys reveal growing public understanding of Long Island’s critical need for affordable housing and the importance of protecting our environment.

Eco villages, clustered in various areas of Long Island, are envisioned. Each Eco Village will have a distinct character, architecture, and local economy and would contain a common house; a recycling and composting area; an organic garden; open space and other facilities and services that meet community needs.

Condos with one-to-four bedrooms and detached single-family homes will be clustered on the property so as to leave lots of border areas. Common houses include space for socialization, meal sharing, meetings, a guest room, a nurse’s station, laundry, kitchen, and workshops. Residents will be expected to provide monthly community service time. Residents’ sales of housing units will require interviews by community residents to assure that new residents understand the expectations required to live in Eco Village Long Island.

Eco Village – Long Island will share the six main characteristics of cohousing communities.

1. PARTICIPATORY PROCESS. Future residents participate in the design of the community so that it meets their needs. Some cohousing communities are initiated or driven by a developer, which may actually make it easier for more future residents to participate. However, a well-designed, pedestrian-oriented community without resident participation in the planning may be "cohousing-inspired," but it is not a cohousing community.

2. NEIGHBORHOOD DESIGN. The physical layout and orientation of the buildings encourages a sense of community. For example, the private residences are clustered on the site leaving more shared open space, the dwellings typically face each other across a pedestrian street or courtyard, and/or cars are parked on the periphery. The common house is often visible from the front door of every dwelling. But more important than any of these specifics is that the intent is to create a strong sense of community with design as one of the facilitators.

3. COMMON FACILITIES. Common facilities are designed for daily use, are an integral part of the community, and are always supplemental to the private residences. The common house typically includes a common kitchen, dining area, sitting area, children's playroom and laundry and may also have a workshop, library, exercise room, crafts room and/or one or two guest rooms. Except on very tight urban sites, cohousing communities often have playground equipment, lawns, and gardens as well. Since the buildings are clustered, larger sites may retain several or many acres of undeveloped shared open space.

4. RESIDENT MANAGEMENT. Cohousing communities are managed by their residents. Residents also do most of the work required to maintain the property, participate in the preparation of common meals and meet regularly to develop policies and do problem-solving for the community.

5. NON-HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURE AND DECISION-MAKING. In cohousing, there are leadership roles but no one person or persons has authority over others. Most cohousing groups make all of their decisions by consensus, and although many groups have a policy for voting if consensus cannot be reached after a number of attempts, it is very rarely or never necessary to resort to voting.

6. NO SHARED COMMUNITY ECONOMY. The community is not a source of income for its members. Occasionally, a cohousing community will pay one of its own members to do a specific (usually time limited) task, but more typically the task will simply be considered to be that member's contribution to the shared responsibilities.

Used by permission from Cohousing Association of the US

Description of Project Activities

Project funding is needed to conduct a one-year project feasibility study that will:

Establish a marketing team and define its roles and responsibilities