Rachel Carson EcoVillage moves forward in Richland Township

A shared living community proposed in Richland Township is moving forward after years of planning and conceptualizing.

The township’s planning commission recently recommended approval of a change in the master plan regarding Chatham University’s Rachel Carson EcoVillage. An EcoVillage is a housing development concept first established in Denmark in the 1990s that revolves around sustainability and intentional living practices.

With the latest change, the community would be allowed to build 35 units instead of an initial 15, pending approval from the township supervisors.

The township will host an April 7 public hearing on the planning commission’s recommendation.

The meeting will be held at 8 p.m. in the municipal building and virtually, said Dean Bastianini, the township manager. He said only 18 residents will be allowed inside chambers. If there are more than that, they will be able to access the meeting online through Zoom, he said.

The $12 million development is expected to include 35 homes that vary in size, from studios up to three bedrooms, and a common area equipped with a commercial kitchen. Residents would commit to buying a house, which are expected to be valued at $150,000 to $500,000, according to Stefani Danes, architect and project manager for the Chatham EcoVillage.

Danes said the community would be located on around 4.5 acres on Chatham’s 388-acre Eden Hall Campus.

The other part of the planning commission’s recommendations included increasing the distance between the homes and a proposed parking lot, which was the center of discussion at the Feb. 15 planning commission meeting.

Several residents who live nearby the proposed 74-space parking lot spoke against it. Jim and Debbie Chatman, longtime residents who live along Kim Lane, said they live directly behind the proposed lot.

“We have a real problem with the location and how close it is to our property line,” said Jim Chatman, addressing the planning commission during its meeting.

Other residents who live nearby the proposed EcoVillage spoke against the plan entirely, citing traffic and construction noise concerns.

Monica Obsheatz, another Kim Lane resident, said she is against the project because she is worried about additional development on Chatham’s land that could negatively affect nearby property values.

The planning commission recommended Danes further explore alternative sites for the EcoVillage’s parking lot. She agreed.

“We’re doing everything we can so that this parking does not become an intrusion on anyone else,” Danes said, adding she and the EcoVillage’s group of potential homebuyers and planners are working with residents to find a solution.

Chatham University developed an EcoVillage concept in 2011 as part of its master plan of the Eden Hall Campus, Danes said. Then, in 2019, the university submitted a request for proposals. Danes, a longtime member of the Pittsburgh Cohousing Group, put together a proposal. It was accepted by Chatham in December 2019.

As part of the acceptance, Chatham had the group commit to attracting eight committed homebuyers. So, in the spring of 2020, the Rachel Carson EcoVillage LLC was formed and the entity now has 12 committed homebuyers, Danes said.

Danes is one of them. She said moving into one of the houses would be a “dream come true.” An adjunct professor of architecture at Carnegie Mellon, she has been studying the concept of EcoVillages since the 1990s and has been trying to bring one to Pittsburgh since 2000.

“This would be the first in the country to be an independent, intentional community built on a college campus,” Danes said. She said there are examples of colleges who build what they call an EcoVillage, but that they are really just dormitories.

“This is different,” she said, adding the houses would be available to all people and that the group is making a push to reach people of all generations and ethnicities.

Jill Brethauer, 72, of Richland said she plans on buying and moving into a two-bedroom house on the EcoVillage. The retired teacher and health care manager said she has lived in the area for 31 years but that she’s ready for a deeper sense of community.

“I miss being around people,” she said, adding she loves her neighbors and the network of friends she’s developed over the years. So the fact that the EcoVillage would bring her closer to others is attractive, but she said she also likes that it would keep her close to her friends and family in the area.

She said she’s also excited about what it will mean for her and others to live on the EcoVillage – which involves being stewards of the land in an ecological manner.

Danes said part of the deal in living on the EcoVillage is having residents work with ecologists at Chatham to develop ways to contribute to the long-term ecological quality of the Eden Hall Campus. This could include managing invasive species or do re-foresting around the area of the EcoVillage.

“There’s a ton that could be done to improve the world,” Brethauer said. “Ecology-wise, I’m happy to be part of that.”