Bill Butler (left) and Michael Oman hope to establish Wisdom House, a walkable and multi-faceted multigenerational housing project in the Riverdale section of Jericho. Seen on Monday, September 23, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
When Jericho resident Bill Butler and Michael Oman of Underhill started talking about how they would like to live out their later years, they were dismayed by the assisted and senior living options.
So the two friends came up with a plan to create the kind of a place they would like to live in – a community of fellow creatives in a walkable, artsy village center that includes multigenerational housing, studio and teaching spaces, gardens and retail.
That’s how the idea for Wisdom House was born.
Butler, 76, and Oman, 77, have identified the defunct sawmill in Riverside — one of Jericho’s three village centers — as a potential site for the development and have roped in interested friends and experts to help flesh out the concept.
Although in its infancy, the project has already generated enthusiasm among some state officials.
Commerce Secretary Lindsay Kurrle praised the project’s “creative, out-of-the-box thinking” and suggested it’s the kind of project that could help address the state’s housing crisis. “Houses this size would accommodate young people just entering the market and seniors who want to downsize, freeing up their larger homes for families,” she wrote in an email.
Jericho is working to update zoning regulations to allow mixed-use housing at the Riverside site, according to Susan Bresee, the town’s planning commission chair. At least one development project is already making its way through the permitting process.
The Wisdom House Village group, which now consists of about 14 residents from Jericho and surrounding communities, has connected with the owner of the property, Greg Tatro, who has expressed enthusiasm about their concept.
Tatro, who started Jenna’s Promise, a holistic opioid addiction treatment organization, has his own proposal for a large development on the 15.8-acre site, which has been contemplated for years and is in the permitting process. The first phase has already passed the town’s review process and could break ground next year. When it does, Tatro added, there is space for Wisdom House to be a part of the overall project.
“We can build one building and free up 10 houses to put on the market. It just makes all the sense in the world,” said Tatro, who lives in Johnson.
‘Nowhere to go’
Butler is a jewelry maker and one of the co-owners of the Artisans Hand Craft Gallery in Montpelier, which showcases the work of 135 artists.
When he received a survey some years ago about his living plans for the future, Butler said he couldn’t come up with a good answer.
“Because I feel like there’s nowhere to go,” he said. “I live in a nice house with a river by the side. I make jewelry and I garden. But I’m not going to get put in a warehouse.”
At about the same time, six years ago, Oman, who lives in neighboring Underhill, was discussing senior living in conversation at a weekly breakfast with friends, including Butler.
A retired community transportation planner and civil engineer, Oman said they realized there aren’t a lot of options for middle-income seniors who don’t want to live in an institutionalized setting.
“So we sort of said, well, since nobody else seems to be stepping up to do this, maybe we ought to see if we can do it ourselves,” he said.
The Riverside district, which includes a small part of Underhill, was already slated for development and seemed like the perfect spot. So, he said, they ran with it.
Oman incorporated Wisdom House as a low-profit limited liability company. The project envisions a mix of 60 middle-income condos and 40 small cottages for multigenerational housing with a focus on senior artists, and possible partnerships with health and elder services groups, according to presentations made to town and state officials.
At its center would be the “Great House” — a multifamily live-work building with community all-weather spaces, gardens, a cafe, and underground parking. The plan also imagines a row of smaller independent-living crafter’s cottages, similar to those on Cape Cod and the islands off Massachusetts, where artists can live, practice and teach their art.
There is already a market, a post office, library, park and bus lines in Riverside and the project could create a central hub for Jericho and Underhill. “So it would really be an ideal location,” Oman said.
“I think it emulates the tradition of Vermont villages, you know, the little Main Street and the stores close together rather than far apart with huge parking lots,” said Kevin Ruelle, a West Bolton artist who created a painting to convey the feel of the project.
“I appreciate the effort they’re making to create a community. I think that’s the really important thing,” said Ruelle.
Having teaching spaces is a priority for Butler, who imagines a sort of arts cooperative where makers can practice, showcase and pass their skills to the younger generation.
If you go to a craft show, “it’s mostly all fuddie-duddies,” he said with a laugh. Skills like jewelry making are hard to learn, the equipment is expensive and classes can be costly, he noted.
“We’re all getting old and if we don’t find people to replace us, it’s going to go away,” he said.
‘Solving our housing crisis the Vermont way’
Like other towns and cities, Jericho has struggled to address the severe housing shortage in the Green Mountain state.
“The Town is committed to working towards new housing that would help seniors downsize, for first time homebuyers or workforce housing,” said Catherine McMains, chair of the selectboard, in an email.
But, according to Oman, “To get housing that people can actually afford to live in and to expand the housing base has proven difficult for Jericho, and yet they’re trying to devote a lot of attention to doing that.”
Like any other project, Wisdom House would need to develop plans, secure land, find funding and obtain town and state permits in order to proceed, said Bresee from the town planning commission, adding that sometimes partnering with another entity, like a housing trust, senior services, an educational facility or a health services provider can help.
While both town officials declined to comment on a specific project, the proposed development seems to align with the goals of the town plan adopted in December 2023, which specifically cites the need to increase and diversify the housing supply. It also matches the character-based zoning and buildout potential of the 15-acre Riverside property as imagined by the town a decade ago.
Butler and Oman have also been talking with state officials about their plan and presented the Wisdom House village concept to the Senate Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs Committee in March.
“Wisdom House presents a vision for solving our housing crisis the Vermont way,” Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden Southeast, who chairs that committee, wrote in an email.
“People want intergenerational, sustainable, and even walkable communities in rural areas. Bill and Michael have an idea that’s time has come, and we should be supporting and paying attention to their regulatory path and financing model as one to replicate for more middle income housing in the future,” she wrote.
It not only fits with what Jericho has envisioned in Riverside but Wisdom House could be “a terrific model” for Vermont to replicate in other rural areas, said Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden Southeast.
“I really don’t know that there’s anything like it here. I think, if it can be pulled off cost effectively, it’s an excellent idea,” she said.
Read the story on VTDigger here: A group of residents pursues multigenerational housing project in Jericho.