Frog Pond Commons

Frog Pond Commons

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Also about 2005, Eli Spivak began building co-housing in Portland.

His company is Orange Splot LLC 

a housing development company and general contractor with a mission to pioneer new models of community-oriented, affordable, green housing in Portland. His company's believe is that one of the most important things we can do to minimize our ecological footprint is to live in less space with a community of neighbors, making it easy (and fun) to share resources.

Orange Splot LLC, creates functional and beautiful homes with interior and exterior common spaces. These communities are designed to foster interaction among residents and make it easy for neighbors to share resources and thereby live happier, simpler, less resource-intensive lives.

Although each Orange Splot development is unique, some common characteristics include:

  • Salvaged, sustainably produced, and durable building materials
  • Project locations where it’s easy to live car-free (or car-light)
  • Affordability achieved by arranging multiple homes on the same lot and keeping them modest in size
  • Preservation of trees and existing structures whenever possible
  • Beautiful, locally-produced artwork

http://www.orangesplot.net/mission/

Eli Spivak, developer.

His work over the last 20 years inspires many of the design features and concepts for Frog Pond Commons.

Cully Grove built in 2014 is where Eli and his family live. There are 16 homes on almost 2 acres.  The common building and garden are centrally located at natural crossing points in the pedestrian circulation pattern, and homes are clustered onto relatively small lots so substantial portions of the site can remain as open space. 

https://cullygrove.org/

Frog Pond Commons is lucky enough as we go forward to have experienced help: 

Rick Gustafson and Kim Knox from Shiels Obletz Johnsen, who were the project managers for Columbia Ecovillage, and

Rebecca Tom, legal counsel for both Columbia Ecovillage and Orange Splot.