A. History

The land that is now Songaia was a part of a larger acreage that was subdivided then sold off during the period between World War I and II. Songaia is spread across two legal parcels. These are "fondly" known by those of us who worked on our legal documents as the North and South parcels.

Prior to our cohousing development, the property had two residential buildings. The older building is known as the cottage (see the aerial photo below from before the cohousing development). The first elements of the cottage were probably built in the early 1900's. The first additions were built and recorded around 1926. The Barn was built in the 1950's and the Common House was completed in 1968.

Pre-construction Aerial View

Post-construction Aerial View

Between 1945 and 1976, the property was a working nursery with a number of Quonset-type greenhouses. Because of this history, there are a number of "specimen plants" on the property, especially around our common house. From 1976 until 1989, horses were kept on the land. In 1987, when the Crow and Coffman families purchased the property, there were 27 horses in pasture.

In 1987, the "North 5" parcel was purchased as a site for a residential learning center for the children of The Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA). It was operated as an experiential learning center with 10 to 13 young people living with a staff of several families. In 1989, the "South 5" parcel was purchased by the ICA to "house a community."

Over the next two years, the idea of an intentional cohousing community emerged. In 1991, as the residential youth program was being phased out, this community was envisaged, the name "Songaia" was chosen, and the Values Statement was written.

Our style of consensus was developed as we struggled to bring our vision to reality. During the next few years a variety of people explored Songaia Cohousing Community, looking at existing housing patterns, reading "A Pattern Language" dreaming and building "community". A series of think-tanks, workshops, field trips and interactive architectural design sessions were held to bring form to the vision.

Our first lawyer was hired and the Articles of Incorporation and By-laws were written. With each line written, new decisions were required. In 1994, we were chartered by the State of Washington as a not-for-profit association.

The physical, cohousing-style, structure was ultimately built - in 2000. The 9-year long development phase presented several challenges; we faced required zoning changes, unexpectedly high construction costs, legal definitions (starting as a cooperative, then changing to a condominium), and financing problems (due to our cooperative legal structure).

Facing these challenges was very difficult, a number of prospective members moved out of our project along the way - in fact, three families moved to Sharingwood Cohousing, enabling them to live in cohousing prior to Songaia's completion. Throughout these challenges, a core group of committed members persevered and brought the development project through to completion, attracting new members along the way.

With Songaia, we believe that we helped create something quite special.

B. Features of the land

Located on 10.7 acres on a gentle, west-facing slope, Songaia consists of four acres of second growth fir/cedar/alder woodlands, about four acres of meadow, orchards, and gardens, with the remaining land devoted to our buildings and improvements. The five new duplexes are clustered in the "development area" shown on the photograph above or on the site plan..

There are walking trails going through-out the woods are enjoyed by our children and adults alike. Two septic system drain fields are also located in these woods, creating some "park-like" areas amidst the natural forest. The wooded hillside is also the site of springs, which gave rise to the earlier name of this property that was Spring Hills Farm.

The meadow supports grasses and is bordered by a variety of evergreens, which have been planted over the past 15 years. There are a variety of older apple trees as well as a few more recently planted apples and pear trees. Productive blueberry bushes and raspberry patches are also located near the buildings.

The land supporting the existing buildings and improvements contains a variety of landscape plantings, many of which were left by the previous nursery located on the property. A small nursery contains a variety of young woody shrubs and trees that is being used to landscape the property on an ongoing basis.

C. "Historic" Buildings and Improvements

When we started the community, there were two residential houses, a large multi-service building, a stable, and some small utility buildings. The larger of the two homes on the site was 5,300 square feet. This building became a 3,800 square foot common house, with the balance of space converted into a single 1,500 square feet unit. The smaller of the historic residential buildings (1,450 square feet), was expanded and converted into a duplex. Most community members live in the five new duplexes (10 units) built in 2000.

We also have a large, multipurpose barn - a pole-type construction that was previously used as nursery storage shed. It is 3,200 square feet and has some interior rooms with storage lofts above the rooms. There is a lean-to greenhouse on the west wall of this building. A pump house is located just north of this building and contains a three-year old submersible pump and pressure tank that supplies well-water to an extensive underground irrigation delivery system. A small utility shed near the existing cottage is unheated but has electricity and is used as storage by the owners of units 1 and 13. The horse stable is a two-story structure with the second story, which was originally designed to store hay, relatively intact.

D. Construction

In 2000, everything finally came together - we obtained financing, found a suitable contractor and began construction. This took about six months and all but one of the current residents moved into apartments during this process. Move-in began during Thanksgiving of 2000.