DESCRIPTION

View of Harmony Village from Common House Roof

"Cohousing is a European inspired, resident planned, sustainable community, featuring shared common facilities which foster a more practical and social neighborhood environment."

Why Cohousing?

Many of us feel disconnected from our neighbors.

 We feel more isolated than ever with our ability to drive up to our subdivision home, drive into our garages and close the door. We leave the world and neighbors behind us. Some new subdivisions are eliminating outside walks, since they are not used. Fences surround our back yards, fencing us in and our neighbors out. With reduced interaction, we lose the sense of neighborhood and community. Cohousing is  an alternative to the typical U.S. subdivision. We in Harmony Village wanted more interaction, not less.

Similar to Conventional Townhomes, and Yet Very Different

Harmony Village is similar to a townhome project with a common use building. We individually own our townhomes, the property on which the townhomes sit, and own together the connecting property and the common house. Our goals are different than in a traditional townhouse project. We want to know our neighbors, to have a safe place for our children, to respect our environment, to have diversity in age, income, education, and backgrounds, and to share our resources. We want to do this cooperatively, in a way that it considers everyone's needs, not just the majority. 

Harmony Village

Harmony Village is an intentional community planned to foster interaction and built by the people who live there. We decided the kind of community we wanted. We met for years and planned this village. We bought the land, we hired the developer/builder, and we constructed our neighborhood.

Harmony Village is in the south part of the town of Golden against the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. We are surrounded by mountains and tabletop mesas, and have within walking distance the Colorado School of Mines , thriving downtown Golden, Clear Creek, Golden Recreation Center, Fossil Trace Golf Club, utdoor swimming,Miners Alley Playhouse parks, bike trails, and grocery store. Light Rail is available to for the 15 mile trip into downtown Denver.

Harmony Vilage has 27 townhome units, a common house and parking, carports, and garages around the north and west side. It sits on 5 acres at the end of a street with large cottonwood trees. Welch irrigation canal and Kinney Run, a mountain stream, run through the property. The buildings sit on 2.5 acres with 2.5 acres used as open space area to the east and south. This open area contains a large organic garden, an orchard, a rock labyrinth, and a winding stream. Some of the area has been left natural for wildlife such as birds, rabbits, squirrels and deer passing through.  Children and adult residents of Harmony Village appreciate exploring natural wonders just outside our homes.

"Harmony Village Shared Mission: To create a cooperative neighborhood of diverse individuals sharing human resources within an ecologically responsible community setting."

There are elements in cohousing similar to the small towns in the 1910's when people sat out on their porches, strolled down the sidewalks and visited with their neighbors. We have meals together about once a week much like the extended farm family.

Living unit next to open space

Harmony Village Guiding Principles

• Cooperation: We value a supportive environment that embraces the challenge, opportunity and joy of living together both as individuals and as a group.
• Ecological Responsibility: We commit to, and highly value, sustainable living and environmental stewardship.
• Diversity: We value and embrace a diverse multigenerational community.
• Participation: We value that every resident commit to contributing skills and resources to work, enjoyment and governance of the community.
• Responsible Management: We value clear priorities and wise use of our financial and human resources to maintain and enhance our shared infrastructure and achieve our shared goals.
• Consensus and Decision Making: We value dialogue and consensus in solving problems, so that our decisions best meet the needs of our community and are based on our guiding principles.  While the entire community decides on issues with significant resource allocation or policy implications, we delegate authority on other matters for the sake of efficiency.

Governing Ourselves

 The community governs itself through a homeowners association (HOA), of which every homeowner is a member. As a result of using a consensus decision making process, and involving all members of the community in setting policy and our budget, we are not top down like many conventional HOAs. Consensus may be blocked only if members believe it is not in the best interests of the community. This has happened less than a handful of times in 24 years. Within the perameters set by the community, operational and administrative decisions are made by a five member coordinating council. Any community member may attend meetings of the coordinating council to voice concerns.

COMMUNITY DESIGN

Intentional Interaction

 There aredifferences you don't usually see in a standard townhome project. Since we wanted more contact with each other, we placed the buildings around a central pedestrian walkway.

Pedestrian walkway

We designed all the living units with kitchens and front porches to face onto this walkway. All walkways lead to the centrally located common house with sheltered mail pick-up and bulletin boards. All parking, carports and garages are around the perimeter, and residents walk from their cars down the walkways to their homes. These design elements lead to more social interaction.

Children camping along walkway

Children

The children find the pedestrian walkway a great place to ride their bikes. They delight in playing in the toddler playground and an older children playground.

Older children Playground

Often the children play on the grassy green in front of the common house. They can be easily supervised from the homes and the common house. The same intentional interaction that works for the adults works for the children. The children are very connected to each other and to the adults. This makes it a fun place to play while still being under supervision and safe.

Tree house for children

Aging in Harmony

A group meets monthly to explore how those of us who want to live at Harmony Village can do so as long as possible, so that it is easier to thrive in different stages of aging.  Our tasks are to identify the needs of members of Harmony Village as we age and determine what resources are available in our cohousing and in the larger community.

Sustainability

We incorporated into the buildings sun tempering, natural ventilation, low e windows, R30 walls, R50 roofs, below .4 air changes, and controlled ventilation. This greatly reduces heating and cooling needs.

We conserve water use with water restrictors, and low water use toilets. Outside we use natural landscaping, low water use fescue grass and drip systems.

Recycling bins in home

Community members have a massive recycling program for plastics, tin cans, glass, cardboard, newspapers, aluminum cans, paperboard, s and magazines. We have six large composting bins in the garden where we are rebuilding the garden soil.

Composting bins

The community has an ever expanding garden including a fruit orchard. We have just added bees for pollination and honey.

Garden

Diversity

We have a wide range in income and age. The income range is reflected in the size of the townhouse units, the smallest about 1000 S.F. to the largest of about 3500 S.F.  Adult community members range in age range from under  forty to over ninety years old.

Walkway to Common House

Shared Resources

A major shared resource is the Common House where we have community meals, community meetings, and a community living room. Additional shared spaces are two guest bedrooms; children play rooms, common laundry, common exercise equipment area, common games area, and common big-screen TV area.    A hot tub is  on the roof of the common house. A workshop and  a community garden.  reduce the need for similar spaces in each home

Jacuzzi on the Common House Roof

Social Glue

There is a "social glue" that binds our community together. We govern ourselves, we work on community projects together, we play together, and we dine together. All this brings us closer together as a community.  Additionally, in order to continue to develop our social connections we have quarterly Social Capitol meetings to build community and strengthen our communication and consensus skills.

Common House Dining

Fountain sitting area

Golden Golf Course and Pond

Golden Golf Course

Within a few years of our building Harmony Village,The City of Golden built  a public golf course,  This includes two large ponds directly south of the village which have attracted ducks, geese and a blue heron.

Something for Most People

Many people find Cohousing a great way to live with their neighbors. For young couples without children, it is a solid connection with their neighbors and a place to build their future. Cohousing provides a way to stretch their abilities and learn from others. For single parents , it is place for raising their children, a place for companionship, and a place for mutual help.   For aging adults, they are connected to the children and adults of all ages, and are respected for their knowledge and wisdom. For couples with children it is a place to share with other couples, a place where there their children can develop a wide range of social skills with children and adults, and a place where they can be safe.   For singles, it is a place they may have an extended family and a sense of belonging.

Post Script: Community in the time of COVID-19

Very quickly a diverse group of residents assembled in mid March, 2020 to problem solve about  how we could keep everyone safe in our community while supporting one another during the pandemic.  The younger children have been been able to play with one another, comparable to an extended family,  Those who are more vulnerable have been able to reach out to neighbors for assistance with grocery shopping and other needs. While maintaining physical distance, the adults have been able to have social connections and not be isolated.  While we have discontinued our community meals, we have had picnic dinners one evening a week on our common green.  We anticipate being able to maximize the use of our outdoor spaces for community gatherings until the weather does not allow that. 

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