LCLT’s most recent housing neighborhood Common Ground received four major “green” awards for its architectural and energy elements, as well as spotlighted in the June 2010 issue of Builder magazine. See our News page for the details.

Common Ground, completed in 2009, is a sustainable net zero energy project and received its award in part due to LCLT’s publication of the manual Land, Water, Energy, Resource Use: A System’s Approach. Features include straw bale construction with earthen plaster, rainwater catchment, solar hot water and a grid-tied solar electric system. This is a mixed-income development of 11 homes and 2 rental units along with an office/resource center.

Lopez Community Land Trust (LCLT) began construction of Common Ground on June 4, 2007 as a demonstration project for replication. We produced affordable housing opportunities for Lopezians in a mixed income development of 11 homes and 2 rental units along with an office/resource center. The site location is on a seven-acre parcel owned by LCLT just off Lopez Road on Tuatara Road.

“Common Ground is about reinventing the American Dream. In the years ahead, Americans will be compelled to shed some deeply ingrained habits of material consumption. These adjustments can be endured, nay, embraced, if people are confident that the country is headed to a more fulfilling transformation. I believe this transformation is fundamentally about discovering what it means to be truly human, not as ‘consumers’ but citizens, neighbors, friends, co-creators of a compelling new story that embraces social justice and a healthy planet. It’s about smaller footprints and larger lives.”
- Chris Greacen, resident of Common Ground.

“In 1989 LCLT was created in response to the rapid rise of real estate prices. Escalation of home prices threatened the very fabric of our community. Common Ground is our fourth affordable housing development and the first net zero energy neighborhood. Common Ground was developed for replication; modeling rain water catchment, solar electric and solar themal systems, passive solar design, straw bale construction, earthen plasters and elements of permaculture design.
“Common Ground is home to teachers, small business owners and those who are self-employed. It is a testament of living comfortably and sustainably with a greatly reduced carbon footprint.”
- Sandy Bishop, Executive Director of LCLT

“When I first heard about this project, I didn’t think it could be done and now that I see it’s possible, I want to spread the word!”
- Rhea Miller, Assistant Director, LCLT

For a diagram of a typical home and its sustainable energy features, click here

The first milestone of Common Ground was a design charrette that brought environmentally-minded professionals together in March of 2006. Please click on this here to view the Scrapbook from this event.

Joe Bullock, a permaculture consultant for the project, prepared a brief discussion of biodiversity on the site, and offered a suggested plant list.

The need for a second housing project became apparent in September of 1993. Once approved by the Land Trust, the nine month long process of design development began. Groundbreaking was delayed three months due to a Sewer District moratorium. However, in June 1994, the first shovel-full of earth was turned on 1.8 acres north of Morgantown for what is now Coho, site of seven homes.

Once again a group of seven households formed crews to build foundations, frame and finish their homes. Interns, community volunteers and tradespersons gave many hundreds of hours of labor. Eight months is not a long time for seven houses to get built from the ground up.

In February of 1995, members moved into beautiful, finished homes. As with Morgantown, Coho residents turned to transformation of their construction site into lush gardens of flowerbeds, vegetables, shrubs and trees.

On May 10th, 2003 more than 250 people attended the Innisfree Open House, joining LCLT and the new residents in celebrating the completion of eight new homes.

Visitors were impressed with the elegant and efficient design, and admired the rain catchment tanks for garden use and passive solar features of the homes.

Carpenters, interns and dedicated volunteers worked along side residents to construct eight beautiful homes. The day brought to a close the long and challenging process of creating homes for eight unique, dedicated and hard-working Lopezians. A sincere ‘thank you’ goes out to all of you who made the dream of Innisfree a reality.

In April, 1991, the first group of homeowners formed the Rodney J. Morgan Cooperative. The name for their neighborhood, Morgantown, was chosen in memory of Rod Morgan, house designer and inspiration for Morgantown, who died just one month prior to groundbreaking.

Site staff included: a site superintendent, relief superintendent, technical consultant, lead carpenter, and a finish carpenter. Local volunteers were invaluable to the success of building Morgantown. They helped with nearly every task on the site, from concrete to roofing, and framing to finish work. It was truly a community effort.

By mid-December, 1992, all units had been inspected and approved for occupancy. The first successful Community Land Trust affordable housing project in the state of Washington was completed. An Open House was held in December of 1992, and over 300 people attended the celebration. New homeowners moved in on January 1, 1993.

The Seattle architecture firm, Mithun, designed the houses in LCLT’s Common Ground neighborhood shown here.