Screening Community Members

Well, my friends…it is finally happening. After almost 2 years of searching, we are closing on land in Asheville.

We close one year TO THE DAY from when we were going to sign final papers on the Whale, the 320-acre conservation property we lost due to Hurricane Helene. Was it meant to be? I don’t know. But this time, we chose a property that is much more flood-proof 😛

I feel excited. Delighted. Terrified. It has taken so much work just to get to this first step. Now we have to build it - the infrastructure; the homes; the culture.

Geof’s attention has turned to talking with banks about lending rates, confirming contractors, and hiring lawyers and civil engineers to get our land plan through the Madison County Planning Board. My attention is going to finding, and cultivating, The People.

On this land, we have 6 lots marked to sell. The number was determined by zoning laws. More than 10 lots, and you go from being a minor to a major subdivision. We needed 3 lots for our own community members, and one lot to hold the community/farm/orchard land. (The other way to navigate this is to create a PUD, “planned use development”, and use condominium law to allow a greater density of homes on a single portion of land. However, PUDs can have trouble passing the board in more conservative counties such as Madison. There’s a reason Geof looks for lawyers that play golf with the politicians he wants to convince.)

This means we need 6 families or individuals to each put down $130k, our current estimate of cost-per-rough-acre including well water, electric, and roads. The sooner we have our group, the better. We need money to complete the infrastructure build, which is estimated to break ground in December, provided contractors work in the winter. And, if we have all our people confirmed by the time we start grading, we can batch leveling their homesites along with the roads and save them a lot of cost.

But - this is not a small decision to make. We are choosing people we intend to live with for the rest of our lives. The question is less “Can you afford a homesite?” than “Do we WANT you to afford a homesite?”

In one of my last articles, I talked about some of the attributes I’m sorting for in potential-member interviews. They are:

1. Chill - non-dogmatic, willing to compromise, smooth not spiky, and sense of self-humor.

2. Thoughtful - considerate of others views’, aware of their own beliefs and needs.

3. Contributory - wanting to do things together, responsible for their own needs, willing to make time.

4. Culture fit - language, shared knowledge, shared values.

The question is - how do we assess these traits? How do our current community members meet, and vet, those who pass my first screening? How do we make a people-decision that affects the rest of our lives?