Silver Sage, Colorado

Project Selection

Silver Sage may contain a number of the following features but it has been identified by the Steering Committee specifically because it:

The following project description combines information gathered from the Silver Sage website www.silversagevillage.com

Project Overview

Silver Sage Village is located in Boulder, Colorado. It is a cohousing community designed to support people to age in place. The village consists of sixteen units for older people and is located across the street from Wild Sage, an intergenerational cohousing community.

Why is Silver Sage an innovative project?

Cohousing communities are small-scale neighbourhoods that seek to provide a balance between personal privacy and high levels of community engagement. Each home is entirely self-sufficient, complete with a kitchen, living area, bedrooms and baths, as well as outside decks, porches or sitting areas.

Built Environment

Built on a one-acre site in Boulder, Colorado, Silver Sage consists of sixteen duplexes and attached homes, a community centre and a common green with internal sidewalks and landscaping. Homes are clustered around a common green which creates a pedestrian-oriented neighbourhood that encourages frequent interaction with neighbours.

The Common House at Silver Sage is a 5,000 square foot space which was designed with residents input. The Common House is owned by residents of the community, with the idea of creating a comfortable extension of members’ homes. It includes a gourmet kitchen, dining room, living room, private guest room, crafts room, exercise room and a main floor for meditation and yoga.

Service Model

Cohousing developments are designed, planned, and managed with a high degree of resident participation. Most major decisions are arrived at through a consensus decision-making process and residents often prepare common meals together in the kitchen of the Common House. These meals appeal to those with busy lives and most residents choose to participate.

The service model of Silver Sage is built on the belief that holistic health and wellness significantly contribute to quality of life. Residents of Silver Sage aim to promote wellness within the community in areas including exercise groups designed to encourage participation at a variety of activity levels, fitness rooms and walking and hiking excursions.

Community members have discussed different ways that home health care providers might work with the community, with options including a Danish model where a professional caregiver works from the Common House and begins with serving the needs of one resident and over time ends up serving the needs of four to five residents simultaneously. Caregivers can also be accommodated in the larger homes at Silver Sage which are built using a suite design.

The village envisions that eventually they will become their own agent for home health care. Noting the skills of community members, the idea is that a resident could one day fill the role of the caregiver, keeping it ‘in the family’. With cost reduction in mind, the village would also like to acquire its own group plan for long-term care insurance.

Funding Sources

Wonderland Hill is a for-profit development company. Rental units are not available at the Silver Sage village. Six of the sixteen units are permanently affordable homes available to those who qualify with the City of Boulder. Prices and income guidelines are set for this program and annual appreciation is limited to 2%. Depending on the applicant’s income, four homes sell for $119,000 each while the other two are priced at $143,000. Units not reserved for affordable housing are at Boulder market rates, starting from $375,000.

Project Auspice

Wonderland Hill Development Company is the largest developer of cohousing in the United States. They currently have 20 completed communities around the country, with plans for more in the future.  Legally, Silver Sage is structured as a condominium association.

In cooperation with other US cohousing organisations, Wonderland Hill established a streamlined development model for cohousing where the developer determines virtually all elements that go into creating a sustainable community, including site selection, feasibility studies, financing, site planning, construction management, the city approval process, marketing, membership formation, group processes, and facilitation.

Wonderland Hill Development Company has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the National Council of the Housing Industry, and the Solar Energy Research Institute.