Imagine an early New England village. . . Simple, understated yet elegant Capes, saltboxes, and two-stories, each with multi-paned windows, fireplaces, and a large central chimney, arranged around a central "village green".

A gravel path encircling the green provides a place for bicycling and strolling around the neighborhood. A play area for the kids located at the end of the green closest to the common house allows easy supervision, with a degree of freedom, and an organic garden provides delicious fresh vegetables during part of the year.

The common house, styled after an eighteenth-century New England inn and tavern, has space for neighbors to enjoy frequent dinners together, to socialize around a cozy fire, and to interact in the pursuit of hobbies, crafts, music, and art in one of the dedicated spaces throughout the common house. Your house guests will find pleasant accommodations here if you need additional space, and everyone feels welcome.

Of course, one of the major tenets of cohousing is participatory planning, and as we go through the long planning process, we may find that members prefer a different concept than that of an 18th century village. But there are some valid reasons for pursuing this particular concept. The most significant of these is that we have spoken with a building company in Vermont whose innovative construction techniques would allow us, working with one or more local builders, to construct a large number of attractive, well made dwellings in a relatively short period, and at a reasonable cost.

This company has developed, over more than 30 years, a panelized house shell construction system that includes pre-cut and pre-built components, and essential reproduction architectural elements, allowing custom Early American homes to be built considerably faster than conventional "stick built" houses. This is ideal for a project of this sort, allowing cost savings associated with efficient production and construction techniques, while still providing a unique, high quality home.

Indeed, Connor produces some of the finest reproduction Colonials we have ever seen. Too often builders and designers overlook the subtle yet important proportions and details that distinguish surviving examples of 18th century New England homes, and the resulting new homes, while perhaps attractive, lack a certain quality that make true reproduction homes so attractive.

We hope to offer as many as twenty percent of the homes as "affordable housing", and will work with Connor and local builders to provide these dwellings at a cost significantly lower than the average Kennebunk home, because cohousing works best with a mix of ages, income levels, philosophies, family situations, etc. In short, the more diverse, the better it is for all of us. We believe that anyone who wants to live in Kennebunk should be able to, and we hope to help.

Cohousing neighborhoods are positive additions to established neighborhoods. In many neighborhoods near and around cohousing, the residents of the surrounding area attend lectures, art exhibitions, classes, and other events held at the cohousing common house, and the children play together.

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