Design

DESIGN & PLANNING
Modeled on a Danish housing concept developed in the 1970s, the sixteen homes at Island Cohousing (ICoho) are tightly clustered in a manner that encourages social interaction, provides a safe and supportive environment for children, and maximizes open space: 85% of the land is undeveloped in perpetuity.

There are extensive shared community facilities, including a pond, garden, fields, and a Common House which has all the spaces which we love to have but don’t need every day in our individual homes:  extra guest rooms, kids’ play room, a generous screened porch, and comfortable areas for cooking, eating together, parties, gatherings, meetings, and classes.

Cars are relegated to the perimeter of the property, making the interior landscape a pedestrian-friendly environment.  The six 2 BR, six 3 BR, and four 4 BR cedar shingled homes clean, spare silhouettes.  All have comfortable front porches, full cellars, substantial salvage and certified wood, and high quality, energy-efficient construction. They are all equipped with composting toilets which convert waste into valuable nutrients rather than contributing to the degradation of the Vineyard’s sole source aquifer.

The homes share a 36 acre site with South Mountain Company (SMC), the design/build firm that developed Icoho (SMC six acres, ICoho 30 acres).  The land was zoned Agricultural Residential; under existing zoning it could have supported a maximum of 10 houses and no commercial activity except home occupations.  The largely friendly (some neighbors were not happy about the commercial aspect) state 40B comprehensive permit that supercedes local zoning enabled the development to achieve enhanced affordability because of additional density and sharing development costs with SMC.

These aspects, along with private fundraising and below-market mortgages provided by two local banks, allowed Icoho to offer four units to families earning 70-80% of median island income.  These homebuyers were chosen by lottery and their houses are deed restricted to ensure long term affordability.
 
The process of obtaining the necessary approvals (including permits from our regional planning agency, which has some authority with comprehensive permits), took approximately nine months.  Because the town was so supportive of the development (which violated local zoning in eight ways), the Planning Board used it, to some degree, as a model when they re-wrote local zoning.

Today, all aspects of this development except the commercial part could be done in West Tisbury without a comprehensive permit.

The neighborhood’s 51 residents – all year round - range in age from newborn to 70 and includes a diversity of income levels, some born-and-raised islanders, some long term transplants, and one family who moved to the island to join the community.  Both the residences and the business pay full local taxes.  Island Cohousing represents a creative mechanism for developing affordable housing, without public subsidies, in an environmentally responsible way.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING CRISIS

The lack of affordable housing threatens the economic viability and social fabric of communities across the Commonwealth.  In no place, though, is the situation more challenging than in the state’s island resort communities, where essential service workers, longtime residents, town elders, and those in crisis or with special needs, can’t simply move to the next town over.  The starting salary for teachers and policeman on Martha’s Vineyard is in the $30 – 35,000 range - none of the houses currently listed for sale with the multiple listing service would be affordable to these essential workers.

The outlook for renters is equally grim.  Units that rent for $1000/month in the off season jump to $4-5,000/month during the summer months; increasingly, rental properties are being bought for use as seasonal homes and are being taken out of the rental inventory entirely.

As one resident of Island Cohousing describes the situation,  “…our best neighbors are leaving the Island in ever-growing numbers…they simply cannot hold on any longer without a stable place to live.  Kids I taught in the West Tisbury School fifteen years ago, with kids of their own now, can’t afford a place to rent, never mind buy.  While I watched all the beaming faces at this year’s graduation, … I wondered how many were saying permanent good-byes.”

And yet there is great hope and promise.  Since the year 200 islanders have galvanized our resources and commitment and made tremendous progress in the struggle to preserve community by solving the affordable housing crisis.  See Island Housing Trust.