Here is something that may be of interest to TRM inmates, while the Tongariro River is swollen (still hanging up around 74 cumecs…)

After publishing TRM’s mockumentary, “Tongariro Skulduggery”, SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed is the Manager of everything at TRM) was bemused by the number of inquiries asking if and when the motel might become replaced with a retirement village? This was one of the twenty wish-list deals negotiated as part of the fictitious plot. In all honesty, despite the requests, we could not support the usual retirement village tenure concept where the developers retained all the residents’ future capital gains. That did not seem fair so we investigated a much better scheme. The cohousing concept ticks all the boxes.

Once the concept of cohousing was understood, everyone enthusiastically supported it and several confirmed they are keen to buy into it. They asked us to search for more good-looking inmates to confirm the level of interest in a cohousing project in Turangi. The conceptual basis is for a “cohousing village” of over 20 units with facilities appropriately designed for Turangi’s special fishy lifestyle.

A cohousing project close to the Tongariro River must be every fisho’s dream bucket list. Over the years, we have often been asked if any of TRM’s family units could be purchased or if/when would new units be built on the vacant land. A “test case” recently was an Auckland angler who has patiently waited for about ten years for TRM to sell a unit or build more and gave up waiting to buy an obsolete 50-year-old neglected family home for about the same price as that now being planned at TRM – a new unit in a community with more security and all other management and maintenance provisions plus a proportionate share of the community facilities designed as part of the complex. Interested?

What is Cohousing?

Cohousing originally began in Denmark in 1964 with the publication of “The Missing Link Between Utopia and the Dated One Family House”. Denmark has a similar population to NZ and by 2010 had over 700 successful cohousing developments. That sparked our interest too. This is an opportunity for property owners to be more creative to provide that missing link in an exciting new development to overcome the prevailing boring uniformity of other single and multi-unit residential buildings. The obvious advantages are the convenient location and the opportunity to be involved in a cohousing project with other like-minded people. Basic tired fifty-year-old houses are now commanding prices well over $500,000 with demand from anglers looking for a fishing base in Turangi. This proposal provides a better alternative with new multi-units designed to owners’ specifications to create their own local “Utopia”.

Cohousing creates intentional planned communities for buyers seeking a more satisfying community “feel” to their otherwise mundane suburban lives. They are planned and managed by their residents cooperating to create better more fulfilling lives. Each household has a self-contained, private home as well as a shared community social space. Residents come together to manage their community and share activities.

As city suburban living becomes more stressful, Cohousing offers an option for resolving the isolation many people experience today and provides for a stronger sense of community. Cohousing communities are intergenerational, welcoming anyone of any age, catering to people with a common interest or need. The size and scale of cohousing are appropriate to the demand to support community dynamics for easy informal communal contact.

Particularly over the last couple of years, many more TRM inmates have expressed interest, dreaming and scheming about how they can escape the city congestion delays and stress and how they can downsize by relocating to a more peaceful quieter smaller village. A relaxed lifestyle has become increasingly important as the standards of living in the cities deteriorate. The increase in remote working-from-home has been well documented allowing many workers to move out of high-cost high-stress cities to live in the town of their dreams.

This concept addresses all of those advantages. With an intensive two-level residential development spread over 4500m2 (over an acre), this new development will include additional amenities, such as our own community cafe incorporating activity/hobby/meeting rooms, 20+ letter boxes, additional storage, bbq’s, commercial laundry, smokehouse, covered parking, etc.

We had to start somewhere so a preliminary concept proposal has now been designed by a prominent NZ architect who is familiar with the cohousing concept. The active participation of people who want to live in cohousing communities and their refusal to allow property developers to define their social options have been the key to many other similar communities. Resident participation in the development process is cohousing’s greatest asset.

Turangi is an unusual village in that all surrounding land is owned in multiple ownership by tribal interests so the town cannot expand. Any new subdivision expansion is elsewhere out of town, 10 km north at Motuoapa or over 20 km west at Kuratau. The only expansion possible within is by redeveloping existing residential land. The best location on the eastern side of SH1 is tightly held. A number of properties have been in the same family ownership for many years.

The convenient location offers all the facilities nearby that a major retirement village would try to provide within close proximity – easy level walking distance – to local (New World) supermarket and chemist and Post Office through the covered mall, comprehensive medical centre, bowling club, indoor heated pool complex, an excellent library, local tavern, various cafes, surrounded by several attractive parks with river trail walking and biking, etc. (plus easy access to the most popular trout fishing pools on the world famous Tongariro River.) Turangi of course is halfway to everywhere in the North Island, midway Auckland and Wellington, midway Napier and New Plymouth, midway Hamilton and Palmerston North.

So if this cohousing concept is of interest, register your interest now – phone 07 386 8555 or email ross@tongarirorivermotel.co.nz to meet other prospective residents. A steering committee needs to be formed to progress further. We are confident the concept ticks all the boxes with three TRM inmates committed before the preliminary scheme plans were even completed.

It is time to stop dreaming and start planning to provide for your future – register now!