RENDERINGS BY DOUG COOPER

The Rachel Carson EcoVillage is moving forward with a new home for its sustainable co-housing community. 

After Chatham University announced last fall that it would no longer accommodate the EcoVillage at its Eden Hall Campus in Richland, the multi-generational community is preparing to break ground at a property in McCandless owned by the Sisters of Divine Providence. 

Now called the Rachel Carson EcoVillage at Providence Heights, the co-housing community will be located adjacent to La Roche University and the Providence Heights Alpha School on 8 acres along Cumberland Road gifted to them by the Sisters. 

“The Sisters are an extraordinary partner with us in this project,” says Stefani Danes, the EcoVillage’s project manager and an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Architecture. “We are working closely together to achieve the mission of eco justice and create a model for living in a way that is good for people and also good for the environment.” 

Named for famed environmentalist Rachel Carson, the EcoVillage will consist of 35 condominium-style accommodations that range from studios to two-bedroom units, with the option of customization available for the majority of units. 

“[The units] will provide a good social array of people with a lot of diversity, but also provides enough financial stability to make sure that the community is well positioned for sustainability over time,” Danes says.  

Residents will have shared ownership of the Common House, which contains a kitchen, laundry space, a dining/meeting area, a work room and two guest rooms. The development also will be powered entirely by renewable energy sources as a way to both conserve energy and minimize carbon emissions. 

The idea for an EcoVillage began more than 20 years ago, when Danes and other environmentally conscious residents came together to form a Pittsburgh co-housing group. Members of the group have occasionally branched off, finding other initiatives that met aspects of the group’s shared goal of sustainable community living. 

“We started, I think, four times with different sites in mind. At one point or another, there was a problem with [each] site and we couldn’t continue,” says Danes.

 The Rachel Carson EcoVillage originally got its start when Chatham University officials sent out a request for proposal for an EcoVillage, which was included in their master plan for the Eden Hall Campus, home to the university’s School of Sustainability. 

“The board selected our community because of the experience that we had. I think they realized that it took more than just a real estate deal to make this happen,” says Danes.

In January 2020, the community, including Danes, began gathering people who might be interested in joining the EcoVillage. Despite the interruption caused by Covid, the community established prior to the pandemic remained intact and devoted to bringing the EcoVillage to life.

“The unique thing about co-housing is that it’s an intentional community, and it means that the people who are interested in living in such a community are the ones who make it happen,” says Danes.

In 2023, their plans came to a halt when Chatham University, following changes at the university, relayed that it would no longer accommodate the EcoVillage on land that was originally dedicated to the community.

“They suggested we might find another place on the campus, but [the suggested alternative was] on an improved land,” says Danes. Without connections to municipal utilities such as the sewer lines provided by the original land, Danes says the property “was undevelopable for us.” 

Rather than abandoning their plans, the community’s founders decided to consider other options before settling on an agreement with the Sisters of Divine Providence

“[Our] vision is to live in a place that allows us or supports us and being connected to each other and to connect to nature,” says Danes. “[Our] mission and their mission just fit together so well that this was the obvious choice.”

The EcoVillage’s new home checks off all the boxes essential to erecting a co-housing development, Danes says, including a location close enough to La Roche University that community members will be able benefit from the Sisters’ spiritual retreat center, the university’s facilities and even La Roche’s continuing learning program, which will be available to EcoVillage residents. 

Danes says construction on the community is expected to start by early fall. 

“We’re trying our best to make up for some lost time and get in the ground as quickly as possible,” she says. 

To learn more about the Rachel Carson EcoVillage, visit here.