What are the key roles the project is looking to fill at this time?
- Investors with minimum $20k+ in capital or financing who are ready to help purchase the land and/or help finance the buildout of the first housing units.
- Resident-investors with trades skills ready to move to the property shortly after purchase and contribute to the physical buildout AND have at least $500 per month they could contribute towards mortgage payments & infrastructure costs
- Future resident-investors who aren’t ready to immediately jump in and start helping physically, but want to reserve their spot on the property by making monthly investments towards their share of ownership.
Who is on the team so far? What are they all about?
We have 7 partners so far and 35 on the interest list. We have 2 skilled regenerative village developers! 2 local landowners skilled in wood processing, land maintenance, food growing, solar systems. 1-2 regional families with lots of skills and 1 regional individual who is a land surveyor. Everyone comes with the right attitude and eager to do co-create a beautiful community.
How far along is the project, and what is the short-term roadmap ahead?
We’ve put a deposit on the property and currently we’re drafting the terms of our co-ownership corporation, which will have contractual ownership and responsibility for the property and the project.
Once we locate our final investor(s), we’ll be polishing the details of the co-ownership, incorporating, and purchasing the property.
From there, the first few resident-investors will be moving onto the land, preparing sites and upgrading some of the necessary infrastructure, and continuing to pursue further investment to build the first housing units.
We’ll also be applying for various grant programs intended to support affordable housing initiatives, and potentially installing a handful of small glamping units on the property to allow for a larger monthly revenue base right off the bat.
What does the longer-term vision look like for the property?
We hope to have between 15-20 adults living on the land full-time (with kids in tow) for a total of about 20 residents on the first 28 acre property.
If all goes well, we have the opportunity to expand with further housing units on two of the adjacent parcels! Bob and Cheryl are partners and the owners of the 28 acres, and live next door with 51a of their own. They’re willing to subdivide or lease a portion of that land for additional units.
The endgame would be expanding even further onto a landlocked section of about another 20 useable acres of Crown land to the west of the first 28a property.
Between these 3 properties we hope to be able to support up to 100 residents for a rich and thriving community.
What kind of legal ownership will resident-investors have?
Ownership and responsibility for the land will be held by our co-ownership corporation. As such, shares in the corporation will correspond directly to shared ownership of the land.
A certain number of shares in the corporation will be contractually bound to ownership and use of a dedicated Member Parcel for each resident-investor.
How much land do I get? What is a Member Parcel?
As a voting member of our co-ownership corporation, technically you have governance rights over the entire 28 acre property!
In concrete terms, each Member Parcel will be an individually owned parcel of land roughly a fifth of an acre in size. For reference, that’s about the size of 4 standard tennis courts!
Each resident-investor will be free to build on and utilize their own residential Member Parcel as they see fit, so long as their use cases align with community standards for safety, aesthetics, and the general ethos (ie. we don’t want people building huge fences and walling themselves off from the community).
Will you have housing units ready, or will members be responsible for building/financing their own?
Both! We intend to create turnkey housing units for individuals and families that will be move-in ready. However, this will depend on securing startup funding to build these first units.
Until we have grant funding or additional private investment, early members are more than welcome to build or finance their own housing units as they please.
Tiny homes are encouraged, and while travel trailers and RVs would not be our first choice for long-term housing, we’re happy to support early members living in mobile dwelling units while they’re in the process of building out or funding the buildout of long-term housing.
Resident-investors are welcome to move onto the property as soon as the necessary infrastructure is present to support them in doing so.
How will the rest of the land be used?
With only 10-20 0.2 acre Member Parcels intended for the land, the vast majority of the acreage will be governed by the community.
We intend for most of the land to remain wild and beautiful, but with many public goods for shared use such as FOOD! Also gardens, greenhouses, gathering spaces, a large workshop, sauna/cold plunges, a coworking space, collective businesses, educational facilities, a gym, and whatever else the community desires.
Can I set up my business on the property?
Absolutely! We encourage members to bring regenerative businesses onto the land (and jobs for fellow residents as a result).
We’ve even discussed the possibility of building a community investment fund to specifically support the creation of prosocial businesses on the land that prioritize local/ethical resource use, non-toxic products and means of production, and other future-facing business ventures.
If your business requires its own facilities to operate inside of, you could either set this up on your own Member Parcel, or make a proposal to the community for use of public space.
What if I want to invest, but don’t intend to live on the land?
We will attempt to prioritize resident-investors as much as possible, but we’re open to the potential for off-site investment as well.
If any potential investors wish to support the project without living on the land themselves, they will also have the option to invest in one or more Member Parcels and the corresponding number of shares.
Later on, these shares would be sold to future residents in order for investors to realize a profit on their initial investment.
Our terms of investment are flexible and will be subject to change depending on individual investors’ goals and preferences.
Who will be responsible for maintaining the property and looking after all the infrastructure?
Responsibilities for general upkeep will be shared to a certain extent, but long-term we intend to hire on one or more of our resident-investors as property managers responsible for basic maintenance.
What will the governance process look like between shareholders?
We intend to leverage technology to make the process of governance as efficient as possible, using apps such as reVillager or other blockchain-based solutions for managing proposals and voting.
Like any community project, effective governance will require experimentation over time to get right but we are connected to many other regenerative communities with our professionals so fear not… we are never ever going to be alone in this journey.
Who makes the decisions?
There is no central authority here. What we’re doing is assembling a group of landmates who will be equal voting members of a co-ownership corporation. As a result, YOU (and the other resident-investors in the group) are responsible for making decisions for how the property is used, how funds are allocated, and what is and isn’t allowed through a collective governance process. So if you’re wondering for example “Is X kind of building allowed for my dwelling?” The answer would be yes, most likely, so long as the rest of the group is onboard. Same thing for “Who will be responsible for the gardens?” – This is something that the group would decide upon together. Maybe it’s a collective effort with everyone pitching in a couple hours a week, or maybe we hire one of our residents to manage the gardens full time with help from work traders. The exciting thing about this project (especially now, at such early stage before we’ve even purchased the land) is that you get to play a role in actively shaping the community you want to live in!
I’ve never been to Cooper Creek, what’s in the area?
Cooper Creek is 30 km north of Kaslo BC, right at the north tip of Kootenay Lake. It’s known for small charismatic communities and beautiful old-growth forests, especially at the nearby Argenta Face.
Kaslo is an adorable small town on the lake with all the shops and amenities needed for daily life, such as small grocery stores, a hardware store and post office, restaurants, A+ brewery, coffee shops, gas stations, community buildings, etc. It is known for its music every night and festivals! We are partnered with the Kootenay Lake Innovation Centre for professional support, grants, technology and programs.
Cooper Creek/Meadow Creek and North Kootenay Lake is a playground for outdoor enthusiasts with all the amazing hiking trails around that will keep us all busy for decades. The Duncan and Kootenay Lakes have an infinite water to explore in boats of every kind. Take a look at this one we have access to! In the colder months with access to various winter sports such as backcountry skiing, xcountry skiing and cat-heli-skiing.
What are the features of the property itself?
The land is 28 mostly forested acres with dirt roads and walking trails throughout. Perhaps the biggest advantage of the property is its wide frontage onto Cooper Creek, which is more like Cooper River for the bulk of the year. This ensures lasting water security and planned self-sufficient hydroelectric power! This would power our units and large passive solar greenhouse for year round food for us and the region.
There are two driveways allowing access from the main road.
The first driveway takes you to the main house on the property, which looks like it could be the inside of a yoga retreat for all the beautiful finishing work in the interior. The large living room areas make it an ideal location for group gatherings and an easy co-working space for any early members who work online. The house has a large amazing covered deck outside which lends itself perfectly to group dinners in the spring and summer. We expect the house will serve as the main community hub until we’re able to purpose-build a larger one as new members continue to come onboard.
The second driveway takes you to a large clearing with existing water lines already running throughout, which makes it ideal for a handful of Member Parcels and/or space for gardens and greenhouses. The forest all around has rich deep soil that lends itself particularly well to a wide variety of mushrooms that will pop up and delight you in any season 🙂
Walking west, eventually you reach the adjacent section of Crown land and come across a mossy fallen-down trapper’s cabin from decades past. Continuing further, there’s a small but stunning waterfall that freezes fallen branches into an incredible array of long and knobby icicles in the winter months. Even further, you have the option to continue hiking up and around the canyon in order to find yourself way up on the ridgeline overlooking Glacier Lake to the north, and Kootenay Lake to the south. Amazing to have such incredible trails and views literally right in your own backyard!
Internet, water, power, structures?
Internet – Cooper Creek was recently approved for fiber internet expansion, set to take place over the next year with our very own local internet society Kaslo infoNet (KiN) Society. Until then, we have the option of wireless internet via KIN or Starlink systems.
Water – We have a well on the property drilled next to Cooper Creek itself for essentially limitless clean freshwater. Upgrading the pump to support a larger population base will be one of our first priorities.
Power – The property has grid-tied electricity, however we’re also in first stages of seeking approval for waterway usage in order to install mid-size hydroelectric generation for ultimate self-sufficiency.
Structures – We’re open to a variety of affordable housing solutions, with some local builders already volunteering their time to come and help with construction of timber-frame dwellings. That said, we’re also very interested in more material-efficient structures such as Earthships and have local connections with Earthship builders and licensed contractors to help get them permitted. Cob houses, rammed earth, earthbrick, and other earth homes are also well within the realm of possibility. Other members will prefer to finance mobile tiny homes, which may be our best option for avoiding permit requirements & the associated time delay. Overall, we’re flexible and open to discussing whatever dwellings most interest you! At the end of the day, it’s your home on your parcel.
What about zoning restrictions?
This property is rare in that it has no zoning designation whatsoever!
In theory, so long as we build to code, there are no restrictions on the number or type of structures that we can build on the land. Similarly, there are no restrictions on the number or type of businesses we can operate there.