North Oakland Cohousing Group Process Workshop October 15, 2006

A Rare Opportunity for New Urban Cohousing in the San Francisco Bay Area

After seven or eight years of fruitless attempts to find an appropriate site for a new cohousing group, some members of the East Bay Cohousing umbrella group have located a wonderful site in North Oakland's Temescal neighborhood — partnering with a local development team to build a 27- to 30-unit new community just north of where Claremont and Telegraph intersect. North Oakland Cohousing should be completed and ready to move into during the first quarter of 2009. This is a rare opportunity to be part of the first East Bay cohousing community to be developed in six years, and it is likely to be the last one for a long time to come. Cohousers who join at the beginning stage will be able to select unit sizes and prices. Group members are currently negotiating with the developers to offer a price reduction for early members.

Forthcoming Events
Experienced facilitator Eris Weaver, of Frog Song Cohousing (Cotati), will lead a day-long group-building workshop for the community on Sunday October 15, integrating new and existing members. Call or email Jenny Guy for details about the group and workshops (510-843-3239; jenstermeister@gmail.com. Child care can be provided if you need it.

Chuck Durrett will lead a two-day common house workshop on November 4-5 for members who have had group-process training, have attended two general meetings including this workshop, and have a mortgage prequalification letter or proof of likely acceptance by Oakland's First Time Homebuyer program.

About the Community and the Site
• The community now consists of 12 households, a mixture of singles, couples, and child-raising families.
• This is a 5-story urban infill site, including a ground-floor garage and retail space.
• Lead architects are Tom Dolan of Tom Dolan Architects (www.live-work.com) and Chuck Durrett of the Cohousing Company (www.cohousingco.com) — who coincidentally are old friends.
• Green building practices will be emphasized throughout the design.
• Design and size of the units and the common house will be determined by the group, in workshops with the architects; individual units are likely to range from studio apartments to 3-4 bedrooms, with common space for community meals, outdoor patios, children's play, guests, laundry, and workshop.

Neighborhood
The site is centrally located in Temescal, midway between downtown Berkeley and downtown Oakland along a transit corridor, and near freeways. It is a 10-minute walk from the Rockridge BART station and close to the Rockridge and Temescal shopping districts, and across the street from the historic Temescal Library and the new year-round Temescal Farmer's Market.

Learn more about cohousing by visiting the Cohousing Association of the United States' website at http://www.cohousing.org.

Official Website: http://www.northoaklandcohousing.com/