ASHLAND — Based on alternative energy, community gardening and "being there" for each other in a multi-generational, interactive setting, a $3.2 million, 13-home co-housing project is seeing the rafters rise after a contentious journey through City Hall.

Aiming for affordability in the expensive Ashland market, the Fordyce Street Co-housing Community has sold 10 of its homes and still has three for sale — a pair of three-bedroom homes under 1,500 square feet for $315,000 and a four-bedroom home for $340,000, says senior member Doug Huston.

The group will hold its annual public forum from 3 to 5 p.m. today at the Ashland Community Food Store community room. The meeting is to promote sales and educate the public on what co-housing is and isn't — and to give people an idea if they'd like such a close living arrangement.

The main misconception, says Huston, is that co-housing is a commune. It isn't. You still own and sell your own home but you share ownership of a garden, open space and commons hall, which has a kitchen, dining room, children's play area and multi-purpose room for arts, crafts and yoga.

"It's architecturally designed to encourage social interaction and build community, with parking on the periphery — and the interior for pedestrians only," says Huston. "The houses, five duplexes and one triplex, are built facing each other and the idea is that residents get and give support to their neighbors in a positive way and children are brought up with lots of adults in their lives."

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The 1.3-acre project, started four years ago, ran into opposition from neighbors, who objected to parking, density, rezoning and other issues, causing it to be rejected last year by the city Planning Commission. It was approved on appeal to the City Council. Neighbors started, but dropped, an appeal to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals.

"It's been four years of hard work, but now I'm really excited about seeing it done and working," says project designer Melanie Mindlin, an original member who went on to live elsewhere. "It was hard for the neighbors to lose this nice, open field, but now one of them says she's going to take down her fence and open her yard to the commons."

Framing and walls are now up on about a third of the homes, with hot water heating pipes visible in floors. Large windows face south to collect heat in solar masses, to be distributed later when the sun goes down.

Members are acting as contractor on the project, which is expected to be finished by July. Their twice-monthly meetings, where decisions are made by consensus, serve as a testing ground for who fits into the community mindset.

"Some people value their privacy more than others, but to live here you have to be able to find that balance between privacy and community," says Huston. "It's a lot of work. You have to want to work with people. It's all consensus, except what you eat, what you talk about and what you do with your kids."

Future resident Jan Jacobs says she sought out Ashland and the co-housing situation as part of her search for deeper community and sustainable living, with shared resources.

"We have an intense membership process and people, if they leave, self-select out," says Jacobs. "I'm very excited to see it come to life. It's been a fantastic creative process."

There are 80 co-housing projects in the U.S. with another 120 under construction, Huston says. "Green living" and simplicity are major draws. Instead of a lawn mower and power drill in every garage, there's one in common for the whole community, he says, a practice that reduces expenses and impact on the environment.

While the long business meetings help people learn interaction, says resident Alfred Hardman, deeper challenges await when dealing with real situations around pets, children and the deepest fear: "What if I don't get along with someone?"

"It's part of growing," Hardman says. "It's been hard for me at times already, but we're in the early stages and we're confident."

Said resident Tonya Graham, a director of Headwaters, "In co-housing, we decided to create relationships and not avoid someone because you're upset with them. I think we'll find people are looking to solve problems. You can't pretend conflicts don't exist."

Graham studied co-housing in college, visited projects in Denmark and Sweden and resolved she would raise her children in "a wonderful relationship with neighbors, rather than a typical subdivision, where it's too easy to drive in and not interact with neighbors because the subdivision street takes up the center."

In a neighborhood that intentionally brings all generations together, says Huston, children will be exposed to lots of other adults who have knowledge and skills their parents don't have — "plus you get a built-in baby sitter, more physical safety because its pedestrian-only and extended independent living for older people."

John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at jdarling@jeffnet.org.