Miccosukee Land Co-op

The Miccosukee Land Cooperative (MLC) is the original surviving cohousing community (a kind of intentional community) on 344 acres (140 hectares) near Tallahassee, in northeastern Leon County, Florida. It was initiated in May 1973 by James Clement van Pelt ("Jeff"), Anna Coble van Pelt, and Chris and Carol Headley under the nonprofit umbrella of the Small Change Foundation. The first members moved to the land in June 1974. The community consists of about 120 households and is governed by a "town council" consisting of representatives from six "neighborhoods" within the community. Co-op members privately own their own homesteads, which range in size from 1 acre (0.4 hectares) to several acres each. Over 90 acres (nearly 40 hectares) are maintained as a nature preserve—the Common Land owned collectively and enjoyed by the entire membership. Both private and shared land is heavily restricted to maintain its natural state.

The defining documents of the Miccosukee Land Cooperative include the Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws and Restrictive Covenants.

MLC members are drawn together by a desire to live in a "community of friends in the country" (the original description during the initial marketing) where the land and environment are respected and interaction between neighbors is a sought-after experience. After four decades members have come to share a sense of the meaning and practicing of community. (Some children and even grandchildren of the original residents have become MLC member-owners.) All activities, other than paying assessments for necessities such as taxes and insurance, are voluntary, enabling each person to choose the level of sharing and socializing preferred.

Although formed in a time of recession, very tight financing, and failing land developments, and in the midst of a "five-hundred-year flood" rain that soaked the land (but revealed where it was safe to build), and despite the fact that the land was not yet planned, restrictions on the resale of MLC property effectively prevented speculation and the expectation of profit on resale, and the publicity budget totalled $50.00, the community was almost fully subscribed within six weeks of its being offered to the public and fully financed shortly thereafter. Each prospective member was required to attend an evening presentation at which the intentional and conservation aspects of the community concept were emphasized. The land was priced initially at about $2,500 per acre on terms of $200 and $35 per month per acre, with a third of the proceeds set aside for community development purposes. Because the available residential acreage was sold prior to its being subdivided, the planning process was based on the preferences of members for the kinds of land and areas of the community they preferred, with any conflicts being decided on the basis of who joined earliest—although in practice a spirit of compromise prevailed. (Several lots were planned around particular liveoak trees, one of which became a tree house residence for its owner, Laurie Dozier.) One lot is a perfect circle. Roads were planned around those choices. For the planning charrette, members gathered over a spring weekend at the King Helie Planning Group in Orlando, most "camping" overnight in the planning offices. Most streets are named for Beatles songs, such as The Long and Winding Road.

While the community is diverse in age, occupation, and religious practice, many adults are in the prime years of their careers, most working in Tallahassee as teachers and professors, small business owners builders, artists, writers, and including a former county commissioner and former mayor. Together the people of MLC have over the years become a voice in the region on behalf of healthy living, environmentally conscious development and wildlife preservation, and social justice.

Many residents have built their own homes, sometimes "projects" that extended over years, with cooperation from other community members. Buildings are in a colorful mish-mash of styles, including geodesic domes of the Frese and Brudenell families.

Activities are scheduled to celebrate life milestones and to support members in times of sickness or tragedy. Over the years members have volunteered time to create a vibrant community center, a volunteer fire brigade, a swimming pool co-op, and beautiful trails through woods and wetlands teeming with Florida flora and fauna.

Shared and individual gardens dot the landscape, and all roads are unpaved—most named after Beatles songs such as "The Long and Winding Road" and "Penny Lane". Nearly all of the maintenance and construction the community requires is done by members on a volunteer basis. Said one resident, "Many of us carry the vision of more time for shared meals and sitting on the porch shelling peas, gossiping, and singing. In the meantime we walk more separate paths but always give thanks for our land and precious neighbors."