Great News in Mendocino County California!!
Dan Antonioli
New Event: Zoning & Building Code Changes Supporting Sustainable Development
Saturday 19 January 2013; 200PM-400PM
Many people would like to add chickens, goats, solar panels, wind turbines, hydro-turbines, grey water, composting toilets, cob building materials, rammed-earth walls, intentional community and co-housing shared living spaces, eco-villages, and/or other ecologically sustainable infrastructure improvements to their land. But in many cases, they are prevented from doing so by existing County land use laws, or at least strongly discouraged from doing so by complicated, time-consuming, and expensive permit processes, that are based on an outdated 20th century vision of how we should live on the land. The result is that many people are (1) not developing in a manner that is sustainable, (2) going elsewhere to create their dreams, or (3) becoming renegades and scofflaws when they do what is ecologically and socially desirable. None of these three options is desirable for the County or its inhabitants. We seek to legalize and streamline the land development that needs to happen in order for our community to become ecologically sustainable, resilient, and local.
This event will initially focus on Laytonville Ecovillage as a case study of efforts to develop a Permaculture-inspired community within the constraints of current zoning. We will hear from Dan Antonioli, green builder and organizer of Laytonville Ecovillage, as he talks about his eight-year effort to sustainably develop land in Mendocino County. We will also hear from Michael St. John, a Mendocino-based land development consultant, as he speaks about the Intentional Community & Ecovillage Working Group’s meeting with the County’s Planning Department. Members of the public with similar Mendocino County experience are also invited to briefly speak at this event. The intended results of this event: a draft list of sustainable development zoning and building code changes that we need in Mendocino County, and a draft list of suggested next steps to manifest these changes in County regulations.
Saturday 19 January 2013, from 2:00-4:00PM
Community Center of Mendocino (East Room)
998 School St., Mendocino
(Go west at Route 1 & Little Lake Rd. stoplight, take first left onto School St., and proceed one block)
For more information about the event, contact Charles Cresson Wood at 707 937 5572, or email info@transitionmendocinocoast.org
Laytonville Ecovillage