Somerville Ecovillage Update 1st March 2006

Rezoning and Approvals.

Ecovillage Design.

Funding and Finance.

Enterprise Development

Social/Cultural

Project Operational Aspects.

Summary.  

Rezoning and Approvals

The project is now in the final stages of approvals in relation to the long and extensive rezoning process.  To date it has been noted that over 338 pages of information – more than 82,000 words – have been submitted to the Shire of Mundaring. This continues to be a key focal point as it drives all key timings on the project. The advertising period for the amendment ended on the 15^th September 2005. It was a positive outcome with no material objections to the project being submitted at the same time many letters of support lodged with the Mundaring Shire.

As has been our experience with the Shire of Mundaring, they continue to be slow in dealing with this project.

Initial indications were that we would be able to go to council in November 2005, later revised to December 2005, and then pushed out to February 2006. We were given a firm commitment from Shire Officers that this would take place. We provided all required documentation as requested by the required date which includes a comprehensive draft Local Subdivision and Infrastructure Plan. In the first week of February we were once again notified that it would not be ready for February meetings. We are now investigating alternative methods of expediting the approvals process with the Shire of Mundaring. This is not only critical for the rezoning approvals but for the additional approvals process that will follow on.

The rezoning approvals are now scheduled to go to council in March 2006. This includes firstly the Development Approval Committee on the 14^th March 2006 , and then full Council for final resolution to adopt the rezoning amendment on the 28^th March 2006.

We have also commenced new dialogue with the Western Australian Planning Commission. The response from them was positive indicating they would like to work with us in order to move through their processes as quickly as possible. This was a refreshing and much welcomed change from the somewhat difficult interactions which have previously taken place.

Ecovillage Design

The process of designing the ecovillage moves ahead, even though we have yet to obtain the required approvals to proceed.  It became clear that if we did not conduct these processes in parallel it would extend the overall project timeline significantly. This process has involved the engagement of skilled and experienced people in all facets of village design. To date this includes Permaculture Designer, Subdivision Engineer, Hydrologist, Wastewater Specialists, Drafting, and Land Care Specialist. This input combined with the experienced and professional Project Team has seen major forward steps in all facets of the project.

We believe we have now reached the final lot configurations. Minor adjustments may take place following input from the subdivision engineer, but the location and configuration of lots and clusters will not vary significantly. This has been an extensive iterative process that has seen a gradual evolution to what we believe is one of the best ecovillage layouts in the world. Communications will now take place with the community to begin the process of deciding lot preferences. This is the next step in this process.

The lot configuration is one which has seen the introduction of many innovative features. This includes some lots with no direct car access, town (row) house and duplex lots, shared internal parking, and the ability for some lot size selection by the community. As the detailed design unfolds we expect that many more exciting and innovative features will emerge.

Finalisation of the cluster and lot layouts was a prerequisite to the next stage of detailed design. We have now commenced this process and will see the development of details for all aspects of the ecovillage design begin to emerge.

In relation to planned building activity currently progress is taking place on The Community House, a chalet cluster, and temporary accommodation facilities.  Once again all these process are subject to the approvals process within the Shire of Mundaring in which we have experienced significant delays and continue to expect further delays.

We will be preparing a design and construct brief for the community house with the aim of engaging a builder to take this project on from design through to completion. We have a short list of builders and will be inviting them to submit their proposals following on from the issue of the Brief.

The time has come for us to engage the service of an Architect in our process. We see that we would like to have our team a Project Architect which can be involved in all aspects of the design process ahead.

With this in mind we will be holding a design competition and inviting architects to enter. The purpose of this will be for interested parties to put forward their ideas and concepts. Based on the submissions we will then select an Architect to work with us on the evolution of the ecovillage design. This is a commonly used process which is highly appropriate for the scale and nature of our requirements.

Funding and Finance

On a large scale project such as Somerville, financially we continue to operate with relatively limited funds. Whilst we have an overdraft in place from National Australia Bank for $500,000 the majority of these funds have been utilised for repayments of loans which took place in the later half of last year. We recently reviewed and amended our cash flow and in order to proceed on the many items that are taking place we will require additional funds in April 2006. Preliminary discussions have taken place with National Australia Bank and they have indicated that they would be prepared to provide additional funding. This will be subject to an updated report on our approvals process. Subject to all going well at the Shire of Mundaring it is envisaged that by the end of March we will have in place additional funds to take us through the next phase.

We also hope to, and in fact are required to, attract new members to become financially involved in the project. This to date has been unpredictable and we can no longer rely on this process for evolving the project. We expect that once lots are finalised and allocations have begun we will be able to go out to the wider community and attract many of the fence sitters which have been floating around the project for some time.

Enterprise Development

From an enterprise perspective we have higher clarity about where we are heading and what is required. This has been based on the analysis finalisation from the economic survey activity which took place last year. Below is a summary of the projected migration plan and then following on from these expected expenditures over a 3 year period in a range of areas. These are not just raw figures but have been produced from a detailed analysis process allowing for a range of factors. These figures will provide a solid basis for any business feasibility activity which follows on.

Below is the migration table which has been used for this analysis. The last 3 rows provide the final numbers for the planned migration of people to the Somerville Ecovillage over the following periods. It is expected that all homes will be built within 30 months of the start of the first residential building.

Anticipated Spending in key Areas

The final output from the analysis is in the table below. This takes into account the following:

1.                  Adjusted migration plan above

2.                  Indications of monthly spend from community members in these areas

3.                  Likely amount of support for these items from community members

4.                  Adjusted factor of 0.75 to reduce overall amounts.