Survey questions to return to Jim Emerson

To all with interest in the Aspiring Community:

The core group has entered a stage of exploration of a site that is very time sensitive and potentially affords a very attractive site for the Aspiring Community, that being Shelburne Wood. This is an opportunity that many consider the best we have seen to date. If we are to consider it seriously, we need to get clear about the number of people who are ready for the following:

1) Engaging in a two to four month process of coming to clarity about a lot of detail as to what the Aspiring Community will be. This will include making decisions about a project that is likely to be feasible, but may not happen due to yet unknown factors, just like any real estate development faces . . note the prior developer devoted eight years to the project before they walked away. Champlain Housing Trust (CHT) intends to take over the development, scale back its density and make this the major focus of their organization for the coming year or two. CHT is known for its cautious approach and will be taking the coming months to determine if they will proceed as developer of Shelburne Woods. Once they make a commitment, they rarely fail to see a project through to completion.

They need a partner who will commit to buying and developing about a third or a fourth of the project. This is where we would fit in. We will not need to act as developer, as we can contract with CHT to manage this aspect of our project. However, to get to the point of being able to make a commitment to purchase the land and enter a contract for the development, we will need to get clear about matters like site layout, building footprints and building types/design, legal entities for ownership, basic rules and association agreements for community operations, ie basis for decision making and the like. Basically we will need to come to clarity about any matter that needs to be addressed so that an informed and committed decision can be made by Aspiring Community members who have interest.

2) Should the above process lead us to be ready to commit to this project, we will need people who are in a position to fund the purchase, development soft costs and infrastructure. To clarify the potential time frame and dollars needed - Committed decision probably needed by this fall, permitting probably completed by next fall, first houses could be built in about 18 to 24 months. Not all houses would need to be built at that time, though permitting may require a 3 to 5 year build out schedule. Funding for the infrastructure for the whole project would most likely need to be in place before the first house is built. At the current stage, we look to explore funding this process with our own resources versus borrowed funds (which would add another layer of complexity to the process).

The core group needs your feedback about the following in order to get comfortable with putting further effort into this opportunity and to justify the time and resources of CHT in exploring our participation in this project. Please respond to the following questions to Jim Emerson by Tuesday July 13th via e mail at jwe@care2.com.

1. When are you interested in moving into the Aspiring Community? In 2 - 3 years, 4 - 5 years, 6 - 10 years, 10+ years.

2. Are you interested in the Shelburne Wood location, (call one of us if you need a briefing on this - it is looking unlikely that we can arrange a site visit at this stage of CHT's negotiations with the property owners)?

3. Are you willing to work on a committee that will meet 2 to 4 times a month over the next 2 to 4 months to support the evaluation of the Shelburne Wood project?

4. If yes to #3, which committee would you be interested in serving on: Legal, financial, environmental, project design and layout, shared resources, association rules, community activities, or promotion.

5. What portion of the following are you in a financial position to support over the next 18 to 24 months (these are very rough estimates and depend on the number of people ready and able to buy in):
a) the acquisition of the land, possibly this fall, requiring a roughly estimated $25,000 to $40,000 per household.
b) payment of development costs over the following six months at a guestimated $10,000 to $15,000, and
c) payment of infrastructure costs, a guestimated $25,000 to $35,000 a year and a half to two after purchase of the land.

6. Assuming there is a gap between these financial needs and you ability to fund the project, are you willing and able to consider borrowing funds to participate in this project?

Please answer as clearly as you can, add questions you might have at this stage, and do get back to me, if you will, by the 13th.

Warmly,

Jim Emerson, for the Aspiring Community Core Group

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