Aerial view of a residential community with colorful houses and green spaces.

Frog Song

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Established
  • Home-sharing
  • Urban

Founding year

  • 1998

What we do

Our community is a part of downtown Cotati, California (population 6,700). We are a typical cohousing community in that we are not organized around any particular religious, economic, political, or lifestyle focus, other than our intention to create a neighborhood that by its physical design and social structure facilitates community.
Our community houses 30 families (including singles, couples with and without children, and single parents) in townhouse-style attached homes. Our common house includes a kitchen, dining room, guest rooms, children’s room, and a workshop.
We’re a little different from many cohousing communities in that we were required by the city of Cotati to include 6700 square feet of retail space as part of our development. We decided to keep ownership of this retail space as a community. We now live next door to a handful of small businesses, which are locally owned.
Community dinners and workdays are a part of our lives. Our key policy decisions are made by consensus, and we meet once monthly for two-hour business and community-development meetings.
Our group formed out of the old Acacia Cohousing Group in Santa Rosa, California, a group which started meeting in November of 1994. The current group came together in the late summer/early fall of 1998, and in January 2000 we found a 2.3 acre parcel of land in downtown Cotati. With the help of the Cohousing Company (Nevada City, California), and our developer, Wonderland Hill (Boulder, Colorado), construction was completed and residents began moving into their new homes in 2003.

Our Mission

Cohousing Community

  • Purpose
  • Home-sharing
  • Community type
  • Cohousing

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 1998
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 2003
  • Started living together

Gallery

  • 57 Total members
  • Not open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
67

How to join

Open when homes come up for sale or rent.

Basic expectations or agreements for members

Please contact us through our email (listed on our website) to arrange a visit or tour. We cannot accommodate “Drop-in” visitors, so please visit only after you’ve made arrangements with us.

Primary decision-making authority

  • All Community Members Together

The whole membership decides collectively.

Decision-making process

  • Full Consensus

Everyone must agree before moving forward.

Governance structure

  • Collaborative/Horizontal

Power and responsibility are shared relatively equally among members.

Economic model

  • Independent Finances

Members maintain separate personal finances with minimal sharing.

Economic scenarios for this community

  • Members need to pay fees, dues, or similar to live there on a per month or per year basis
  • There is a labor obligation
  • Members typically need to have their own job or other personal source of income to cover their expenses while living in the community?

Additional economic information

Regular fees: Yes
Labor: Yes (3 hrs/week)
Members with pre-existing debt: allowed
Each household qualifies for their mortgage independent from the rest of the community.
Members are required to help cook at least once a month, participate in work days, and serve on at least one committee.
Homeowner’s Association dues vary by size of home (sizes range from 2 bedrooms/1 bathroom to four bedrooms/3 bathrooms).

Shared resources and amenities that are accessible to everyone in the community

Common House, Garden(s), Library, Workshop, Hot tub or hot springs, Large Scale Kitchen, Swingsets & play areas, Internet

Frequency of communal meals

  • 2-5 times per week

Significant food acquisition practices

  • Locally sourced

Substance use culture

  • Substance use appears in public spaces but no pressure
  • Substance use occurs primarily at celebrations or ceremonies
  • Religions
  • Buddhist
  • Jewish
  • Wiccan, Paganism, or Earth Religions
  • Unitarian Universalist

Gender composition

  • Roughly balanced (no group over 60%)

Age demographics

  • Family-focused (many children and parents)

Property status

  • Privately owned

Property owner

  • By a single individual, couple, or Family Trust

Setting

  • Urban

Within city limits with access to urban amenities and infrastructure.

Community type

  • Cohousing

    Private homes with shared common facilities, designed for neighborly
    interaction while maintaining independence.

Self-produced energy

  • Up to 33%

Energy sources used

  • Photovoltaic Solar

Self-produced food

  • Up to 33%

Local, organic, or fair trade food

  • 33 - 66%

Food systems

  • Community garden
  • Land area size
    2.3 acres

Guest Book

Written reviews are available for plus members. Click here to upgrade.

Location

  • California, United States

Needs and Offers

Offer
  • Forming Communities
1 month ago

Create Home in Greece, Together

There are two ways into Greece’s first community-led cohousing network: a new-build mountain-foothills village in the Peloponnese, or an adaptive-reuse project where you help choose the property itself. Both are shaped by the vision and values of the people who will live there. PATH ONE: TAYGETE COHOUSING VILLAGE — NEW-BUILD, PELOPONNESE A mountain agrihood at the foot of the majestic Taygetos Mountains, inspired by the UNESCO village of Monemvasia — pristine national forest and hiking, olive groves, a vineyard, farm, surounded by mountain villages and close to extraordinary beaches. Common House with a full coworking suite, incredible kitchen for indoor/outdoor dining, workout room and lounge with fireplace. Includes a pool, gardens, soccer field, and village plateia. Adjacent to a luxury wellness resort with spa and farm-to-table restaurants now building. 2.5 hours from Athens International Airport, 20 min. drive to a vibrant town with nightly filled tavernas and a new hospital, 25 min. drive to beaches and charming fishing villages. Project Advantage: This project does not require the group to take out a collective construction loan — a rare, significant risk reduction most forming cohousing projects can’t offer. This project also provides the opportunity for a Golden Visa permanent residency in Greece, with the advantages of European healthcare, university access, Schengen business and travel. Stage of Development: Site Selection Completed. Feasibility studies completed. Development Partner Selection Completed. Collaborative Site and Village Design Process Completed. Finance Plan Completed. Architectural and Environmental Studies are completed and in the modification process. A current building permit exists and is in the modification process. Once the permit modification process is complete, member investment opportunities will open. Utility infrastructure excavation is underway, and only 12 investe

Information

Communities

A residential project: people live here as their primary home.

Organizations

An institution, business, network, or project that isn’t a residence (e.g. a learning center, farm, or network with no one living there full-time).

Plus Community Memberhsip

  • Find people with Profile Match
  • Access to your community listing statistics
  • Create Discussion Groups
  • 50% commission when your members purchase a Plus Membership
  • Access to our affiliate program
  • Member badge on your community profile
I am an official member of this community
Disclaimer
I affirm that my information is accurate and I am authorized to manage this listing
Foundation for Intentional Community FIC Member badge logo.

Free Plan

Free Membership
Free

Intentional Advertising

  • Subtotal

    {{ currencyFormat( pricing_summary.total_amount ) }}

Icon representing community connections and collaboration for intentional communities.

Plus Membership

  • Find communities with Profile Match
  • View detailed reviews about communities
  • Direct message and view contact information
  • Create free listings in Needs & Offers
  • Plus Member resources in CommUniversity
  • Plus Member badge on your profile