| We are forming a small residential community where land is removed from price escalation and affordable housing is preserved for future generations.
With this goal, Green River obtained approval for the first clustered housing in Hillsdale, planning modest homes on two acres of a larger wooded parcel. Members will hold title to their homes, have the use of private yards, and share gardens and wooded areas in common.
The site has 12 acres of pine forest, with a year-round stream that feeds into the nearby Green River. There is a remote feeling to the place, although it is only 12 minutes from downtown Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and half an hour from Tanglewood, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The nearest major airport, Albany International, is 40 miles to the northwest.
The property is located in an area that supports a viable local currency, organic farms and CSA's, a member-owned organic grocery and a raw milk buying club. It is minutes from the culturally rich environment of the southern Berkshires.
The project will support four individuals or small families; and at this time, there is one person living on the site, a retired freelance journalist. The first home was completed in 2011.
Residents who choose this setting will share responsibility for the site through a homeowners’ association and through representation on the board of directors. They may choose lifetime ownership and a legacy for their heirs, or decide later to sell the buildings for the new replacement cost.
The CLT is a non-profit corporation that seeks to acquire land and retain it forever, leasing its use to homeowners, farmers or ecologically-minded business initiatives, while preserving a portion of land in open space to benefit the community as a whole. Through permanent stewardship it aims to:
-Prevent land from being a commodity and source of power
-Foster community building
-Lower the cost of home ownership.
The history of the movement can be found at the website of the Schumacher Society, at http://www.neweconomicsinstitute.org/content/
community-land-trusts, and other sites related to the concept.
Solar energy use, water conservation, and recycling will be highly valued. The intent is to live simply, strive for minimal use of the earth’s resources, and share rides to town.
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"Men did not make the earth… It is the value of the improvements only, and not the earth itself, that is individual property." –Thomas Paine | 
