The News & Observer

March 4, 1994

COHOUSING MAKES INROADS IN TRIANGLE
Stressing community

Author: ALISON JONES; STAFF WRITER

Edition: FINAL
Section: NEWS
Page: B1

DURHAM -- Some people move to the country to get away from their neighbors. Sheri Rosenthal is looking for a little togetherness.

Rosenthal is the prime mover behind Eno Commons, a neighborhood being developed on the fringe of the Eno River State Park. It's the latest Triangle community to embrace cohousing, a Danish development approach that blends private ownership and shared facilities.

Not to be confused with communes -- in which residents share everything, from worldly goods to world views -- cohousing residents own their own homes. And they don't share a particular ideology or religion.

But if Eno Commons isn't a commune, it isn't exactly Woodcroft, either.

Like other cohousing communities, it's built on the idea of sharing the tasks of daily living. At its heart is the common house, a place for group meals and other shared activities.

Residents help plan the neighborhood, deciding just what facilities will be shared -- from office space to exercise rooms. The intended byproduct of this collaboration is that amorphous something called "community," a word cohousing devotees utter with something close to reverence.

At Eno Commons, environmental consciousness is a big factor as well. While other developments might offer a pool and tennis courts, this one will include a shared orchard and organic garden. Houses will be individually designed, but must use passive solar energy. And cars will be kept to the periphery, with the center of the neighborhood reserved for gardens, play areas and walking paths.

Groundbreaking is scheduled for April, with construction of the first houses to begin in July.

It's another venture for Rosenthal, a lawyer who works part time in the Durham City Attorney's Office and also operates a business that helps people sell their own homes. As a single woman, she finds she often doesn't take time to cook healthy meals for herself. She looks forward to the option of walking up to the common house for a meal.

She thinks harried parents will agree.

"Working mothers come home and then face the rush of preparing dinner," she said. "How much nicer would it be to read a story to your child when you come home, and then walk up to the common house for dinner?"

Cohousing has already struck a chord elsewhere in the Triangle. Arcadia, a Carrboro development, will begin construction in May. Another is under way in Chatham County. And Potluck Community Farm in Person County shares many similarities with cohousing efforts.

The projects cater to people who want an alternative to cul-de-sac living that encourages more interaction with their neighbors.

But there are differences.

Arcadia is the result of years of group meetings and hours of building consensus. The residents bought the land together, and every curve of pavement and inch of path was planned by members of its 33 households. By contrast, Eno Commons is not as pure an example of the group-based cohousing model.

It's Rosenthal's brainchild. And in many ways, she has acted as a private developer, choosing the land and getting the initial plans approved.

She also hopes to make some money from the project -- at least enough to compensate for the hours she's spent tromping through briers and poring over site plans.

While Rosenthal has jump-started the process, other residents are having a say about the plans. Rosenthal has been meeting for months with people interested in living at Eno Commons. Now that the land has been found and the site plan has been approved, she's trying to involve more people in the planning.

The group of future Eno Commons residents includes Carol Brown Eilber and Charles Eilber, former director of the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics. The Eilbers had been planning a cohousing community organized around macrobiotic cooking, which emphasizes vegetables and avoids dairy products and meat. Now they're joining forces with Eno Commons.

The Eilbers, both in their 60s, run their own education consulting business and like the idea of sharing mundane things such as space for copy and fax machines. Carol Eilber says she also likes the idea of growing old in a neighborhood of mixed ages. And she thinks planning group meals and tending a common garden will have less tangible benefits.

"All these things allow you to interact with your neighbors," she said. "They pull you out of your little boxes."

But what if, after all the emphasis on working together, the neighbors can't get along? Rosenthal says she'll recommend mediation training early on, to head off conflicts before they start.

Eilber, for her part, is optimistic things will go smoothly.

"We will proceed with caution and hard work," she said. "We will make it happen."

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Caption:
Surveyor Jock Wick, left, and student Jeff Kleaveland work at the site of the Eno Commons cohousing development just north of the Eno River in Durham County.
Sheri Rosenthal started Eno Commons in Durham.
STAFF PHOTOS BY ROB CROSS