Live Close to Nature and Conveniences Too!

Project Location

Minutes from vibrant downtown Kalamazoo, the 40 acre Manitou Arbor Ecovillage will be laid out to nurture a small village atmosphere that is pedestrian, child, and family friendly.
Access to trails on the adjacent 230 acres of mature forest, meadows, a creek and lake, as well as diverse wildlife species, makes this village site a truly special place!

Aug 2011 Site Design w/o terrain contours	Aug 2011 Site Design w/terrain contours

Planned common areas for community gatherings, educational events, private reflection, and play spaces will provide those with the desire ample opportunities to connect
with each other and the natural world.

Like many cohousing projects, with our site design we are trying to encourage walking within the ecovillage, as well as the sharing of access to vehicular transportation.
We are also working to insure that those with disabilities have the option of having a
vehicle close to their home.

The village access road approaches from the southwest corner, and is entered directly across from the existing Comstock Middle School driveway. It curves toward the heart of the community - an area ultimately featuring the Community Center, attached accessible apartments, gardens, a play area, and an outside gathering area.
The Community Center will be the greeting point for visitors. Small parking lots nearby will aim to serve the Center, apartments, and nearby homes. When future educational events are held, visitors can park in these lots rather than wandering through the village.

We are designing the streets and parking area to enable them to drain into rain gardens whenever possible. We envison some fencing running between buildings to keep
small children safe from cars, and deer and other wildlife out of the gardens.

In addition to apartment homes, lots for single-family and duplex homes will be situated around the paved oval road. Duplexes can be linked by a shared garage,
or the option exists for them to be single family homes if the builder/resident
chooses not to build a connecting garage.

Detached residential buildings will have passive solar rights protected in our legal documents. Common buildings will be built ready to receive renewable energy systems as finances permit, and they will be built to be as energy efficient as feasible in order to stay warm in winter and cool in summer with the least amount of energy possible.

We expect that many detached homesite buyers will choose to custom-build their homes, while others may wish to choose from a set of stock plans and have their
home production-built to save money.

MAEV anticipates arranging access rights to the adjacent 230 acre parcel of land from the current owners, the Congregation of St. Joseph (CSJ).

MAEV will be resident owned and managed as a site condominium.