Elm Creek Trails

We have 240 acres just south of Abilene, Texas. Its attributes are: 180 arable, good soil, soon to be organic certified, good subsurface water, more than a mile of woodland trails along Elm Creek, great wind and sun resources, city limits of Abilene just 2 miles away (great for veggie sales or a PYO operation).

The vision: We would like to live in a community together with like-minded believers in order to: have the benefits of a real community, share resources, fellowship, and to minister to our community.

The details: My vision is of a sustainable community of mostly closely spaced adobe houses (which are perfect for this part of the world -goggle compressed earth blocks) utilizing solar and wind power to the extent possible and practical, and trying to create small scale agriculture and craft industries to make income and to bring neighbors into the community. Central housing area surrounded by gardens, farms and grazing land. I'm partial to children, so I'd like to find a way to house a few foster families (rescue the children).

The legal structure: Probably a non-profit together with a LLC.

The legal details: In Texas municipalities have a ETJ (Extra Territorial Jurisdiction) that gives them the right to set development standards 5 miles out from their city limits. That effects this effort because to sell smaller than 10 acre lots will have prohibitive development requirements. Therefore, the lots have to be 10 acres or we would have to just have the land owned by an LLC, with 99 year leases to the members. This would allow improvements to be owned, but the real estate would remain the property of the LLC. Other advantages of this: limit equity aquisition (we need to be making homes, not building equity) and we have some control over the buyers of property (they must be approved as members of the community first). Maybe the sale of a few 10 acre lots to founders in order to capitalize the community.

My Influences (so you'll know better who I am): Jesus, the Bible, Wendell Berry, Our Suburban Nation, Joel Salatin, George MacDonald