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The most popular model for housing in the US is large developments characterized by many similar houses, built quickly and cheaply, on a very large scale. They are funded, built, and sold by large homebuilding companies such as KB, Centex, and Hovnanian. They are notorious for bullying through local planning boards, building on farms and forests, and in the past were known for low quality construction. In Vermont these companies are not present. Most new development individual custom homes, ski area homes and condominiums on a smaller scale with higher quality homes and more respect for the land. Nonetheless new developments tend to take large chunks of land and divide them into 2 to 5 acre parcels with little if any land being spared. Cohousing tends to, but not always, redevelops urban properties or uses smaller portions of a large acreage through clustering, protecting natural and open spaces.
In the US, cohousing communities are typically formed in the following way. First, Friends or a few families who are interested in creating a cohousing community in an area get together. As the group grows, they hold meetings to get to know each other and begin to shape their goals for a community, recruit new families, and define their values. They often have a process for new families joining such as required meetings and workshops, membership fees, and often times subscription fees that pay for the process and eventually the homes. The group usually takes at least 3 and usually more than 5 years to form, find and purchase suitable land, gain necessary approvals, hire building professionals, and construct their project.
 The cohousing process tends to be lengthy and cumbersome. It is typical for many early members in a group to no longer be able to afford the project by the time they reach construction. Others consider the consensus process of decision making, which most groups use, to be frustrating and they lose patience. One of the main problems with cohousing upon which Sweet Ponds model seeks to improve is the inefficiency of designing houses, let alone a whole neighborhood, by a group. It costs lots of money and delays when an architect must wait for the next group or committee meeting to make a decision on a simple design aspect. Another difficulty is getting a group to negotiate a real estate transaction. All of this leads to very lengthy project times and an extremely high cost of building. Most community designs end up as compromises and ,when cost over runs come into play, they often veer far from the ideal plans they started with.
The vision for Sweet Pond Eco Community was based on consideration of the above building options and trends. The central question is what will Vermont look like in the year 2050? Cutting up the remaining farm and woods into 5 acre pieces is neither sustainable for the Earth or for the growing population and demand for housing. A great option seems to be cohousing with cluster housing and green building. The inefficiency in the design process however drives prices out of the range of many interested people and the hassle keeps many who can afford it away. We seek to increase efficiency by using a developer driven approach. Many communities find that their units sell-out fastest during construction. This demonstrates the desire of folks to live in these types of communities who just can not commit the time and resources to the longer and uncertain planning process typical of most cohousing projects.
The model is a hybrid of standard development, environmental responsibility, and sustainable living. A cohousing community of clustered homes along with a large preserved area was the start. Money is an excellent motivator and is the key to widespread sustainability. For example, many people make their homes energy efficient to cut their energy bills not their carbon footprint or reliance on foreign oil. Donating 50 acres of land to land trusts or keeping it in a family only produces 50 acres of preserved land. If you can preserve land in the process of earning a profit, others will follow suit. If for every 20 houses built in Vermont, 80 acres of land is put into preservation, this could have some potential for real sustainability. To make this project have a far reaching impact for Vermont it has to be something that can be reproduced and therefore must be economically sustainable as well as environmentally.
The homes and community have been designed after careful study of many, many, other communities. By not opening up membership until after we have purchased the land and planned the physical aspects of the community we have expedited the process and produced what we believe is truly optimal designs. The next step is of course building the kind of community that will make this home and not just a cluster of well-insulated houses.
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