“I’ll build a house for myself,” he said to himself.
Andrew Henry
Gumption, grit and spirit of a very special sort are required when you live on an island. Doris Burn, in 1965, wrote and illustrated a beloved children’s book, ‘Andrew Henry’s Meadow’, from her small cabin-studio on Waldron Island with no running water, electricity, telephone or heat. The story tells of building a community through the skills of your own hands and heart. It celebrates seeing what needs to be done and doing it. It is a tale of making your own dwellings, not simply shelters, and not waiting around for others to do it for you. Characters with can-do and must-do spirit, creating homes reflecting who they are and how they want to live. All-the-while, welcoming, celebrating and helping others realize their own visions. The perfect allegory in 43 pages and India ink drawings, for an extraordinary movement which has changed the soul of another island, Lopez and its Community Land Trust.
In September of 2000, our family purchased a charming, tattered place on the South end of Lopez Island. My husband Joe and I, having founded JAS Design Build in 1992, were busy designing and building our small company in Seattle. The joy and the stress were real. We were ripe for a getaway. Friends welcomed us to their family’s farm for a magical weekend. Having relocated from the East Coast in 1990, Lopez reminded us of places which had touched our hearts growing up. We were enchanted.
Not long after, we began building a project on the island with Seattle architect Gordon Walker. Our introduction to Lopez was very boots-on-the-ground. We needed to house a JAS crew and get supplies to, by our standards, a remote site. We went to Sunset Hardware for materials & lumber, Isabelle’s for morning coffee and the library for connecting to (dial-up) internet. As the project progressed into winter, days were short, and windy nights were long. We felt the pull of adventure and of community in equal measure. We wanted to be a part of the place. Unable to purchase anything one could categorize as a ‘vacation home’, we did easily find something affordable. Although the septic had failed, the roof was shot, one building leaned and another was decaying, we embarked on making an island home using our skills and heart.
Today, JAS Design Build has a full-time team living and working on Lopez Island, where they build 2-3 projects at a time. For many years we explored taking on island design-build projects. But found that in order to provide our model of design-build service, the most significant roadblock was finding access to housing. JAS carpenters, project managers and cabinet makers who wanted to commit to live and work on Lopez could not find affordable long term housing options. Real estate had already become financially inaccessible as land & housing prices soared. We were only able to expand our work to Lopez through personally pursuing investment properties and offering them at affordable rents to our employees.
Having had the good fortune 25 years ago to become homeowners on the island, we feel increasingly dismayed by the fact that home ownership is a prohibitive dream for many of those who bring their energy, hard work and commitment to the services that fortify this community. The island needs them. And they need the security of affordable homeownership. Seeing the work Lopez Community Land Trust has achieved since its founding 35 years ago speaks to us practically and professionally. LCLT has created a space where Lopezians can influence their own destinies. Characters with can-do and must-do spirits rolling up their sleeves and creating not only homes for themselves and their families, but creating and supporting the economy… restaurants, coffee shops and bakeries… becoming our teachers, firefighters and farmers… raising food and stewarding the land. Community Land Trusts, both urban and rural, provide a way to correct the imbalance found in the traditional American real estate market. As we have come to better understand the land-held-in-trust model, we are committed supporters of LCLT. Sustainably affordable housing is not simply for shelter. It is a necessary step in building a welcoming, diverse and thriving Lopez Island community.
From Seattle, just a two-hour drive and a 45-minute ferry crossing will transport you to an idyllic haven, where folks wave at passersby, honor system farm stands dot country roads, and artists outnumber the rest of us.
Dubbed “the Friendly Isle,” Lopez Island is known for its tranquil atmosphere and amicable locals. Relatively flat, cyclists enjoy the 15-mile ride from the ferry dock on the northern tip to MacKaye Harbor down south, whizzing through rolling farmlands and glimpsing peek-a-boo views of Mt. Baker. At the center of the island, the commercial hub known as the Village boasts a humble selection of restaurants (many of which close for the winter lull) offering locally sourced meals; a Saturday farmers market featuring fresh-baked bread, artisan pottery, and a poutine truck; and the old favorite Take-It-Or-Leave it, which is Lopez Solid Waste’s answer to Goodwill, only free.
But the old-timers aren’t the only ones who treasure this pastoral paradise. The summer population swell produces a competitive housing market—one that the farmer, artist, or food server income can’t support. To combat this lack of affordable housing, Lopez Community Land Trust (LCLT) constructs permanently affordable cottage developments via a ‘sweat equity’ model, where future homeowners who otherwise couldn’t afford property help build their own homes. The organization then holds the land in trust, ensuring it is in service of the community for generations.
Though exacerbated by the pandemic, insufficient affordable housing on Lopez isn’t a new dilemma for the island, which experienced a 190% increase in home prices in 1989, a spike that prompted the founding of LCLT. Written three decades ago, a 1993 New York Times article described Lopez in terms that still hold true today: “[In this] popular vacation spot 90 miles north of Seattle in the upper Puget Sound, many low-income residents have been unable to buy houses.”
The average home price in San Juan County, where Lopez is one of four main islands, skyrocketed in 2020 as a flight of affluent telecommuters exchanged their humdrum home offices in the city for the peace and natural beauty of the San Juans. From July 2020 to July 2022, the average price of a single-family home jumped from $633,633 to $1,033,788. The farmers, teachers, and grocery store workers who keep the island running—even amid the dreary gray Februarys when the tourists stop coming—found themselves priced out.
“The median household income is one of the lowest in Washington, but the median house price is one of the highest,” points out Nitsan Yomtov of Ets Architecture, who came to the island 15 years ago as part of LCLT’s internship program and continues to collaborate with the non-profit today. The result? More and more locals are forced into the ambiguity of the renter’s life, leasing here and there until their landlord kicks them out for the influx of summer visitors, setting up a trailer on a friend’s property, or pitching a tent in the woods. This is where the Land Trust comes in, offering Lopezians a “foothold into having an ownership stake,” says executive director Sandy Bishop, positing they are more involved in island life as small business owners, EMTs, or beach clean-up volunteers because they have a long-term stake in the community. This stems from the land and holding an interest. One of her favorite things, recalls Bishop, is “watching [how] one anchor point gives way to all these ripples throughout.”
If homeownership creates ripples throughout Lopez, then LCLT has generated waves across America. A confluence of factors in the late ‘80s, including the 190% rise in housing costs, San Juan County jettisoning the Owner-Builder Code, and recent contact with precedents in the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, poised LCLT to be the first land trust of its kind on the West Coast. The other main San Juan Islands have followed suit, with Shaw Island founding its land trust within the last year. An estimated 225 now pepper the nation.
On Lopez, LCLT oversees six neighborhoods, with another on the way (as of August, the foundations of all six homes in the Oystercatcher Co-Op have been laid). Since Morgantown, the original co-op designed by and named for the late Rodney Morgan in 1992, LCLT has collaborated with a range of Washington-based architecture firms, including Vandervort Architects and Mithun. A focus on sustainability has become central to the ethos of these sites, three of which are net-zero energy.
“We were so out of balance for so long in our extractive ways of being in relation to the planet. And now the planet is reacting,” Bishop reflects on the organization’s sustainability ethos. Completed in 2009, the Common Ground neighborhood on Lopez was Washington’s first net-zero energy residential development. To maximize the sun’s gifts, the 11 homes are set on an east-west axis facing the Village; abundant glazing accommodates passive solar heating while solar panels harness the rays for remaining electricity needs. Resident and artist Bob Wood welcomes this sunlight, which he takes advantage of in his studio. Straw bale and earthen plaster construction further insulate and create opportunities for sculpted nooks and crannies, showcasing the unique hand of the makers—the future leaseholders who contributed 10,600 hours of sweat equity on the project.
Isara Greacen was five years old when her parents built their home in Common Ground. She recollects helping choose paint colors and cherishes the “personalized details [that were] created by many hands.” Although affordable housing is typically commended for the economic benefits it provides residents, Greacen attests to its social value. “I remember building fairy houses in the woods behind Common Ground, sword-fighting in the field, and ice-skating on our pond together with all of the other kids in the housing co-op. I remember shared potluck dinners with the community and sitting outside on our little wooden bridge.” Wood agrees, emphasizing, “A strong community that works together can create an amazing experience for all.”
LCLT’s impact on the island transcends sun-washed and shingled cottages. Subsequent generations can only benefit from affordable land if said land is well taken care of, putting environmental stewardship on equal footing with affordable housing in LCLT’s mission. Their Sustainable Agriculture & Rural Development (SARD) programs span from Lopez Island Farm Trust (LIFT) which holds 90 acres in trust as long-term community assets for ecologically friendly farming, to an EV car share initiative for co-op residents, to a farm-to-school program. Another standout is the Harvest Dinner: a celebration of Lopez’s bounty where participants compete for the best use and presentation of local ingredients. One recent winner grew, threshed, and milled the wheat for their bread; but they didn’t stop there, the water and salt came from right off the island’s shore.
As of this May, LCLT acquired the 17.5 acres on which Lopez’s beloved Barn Owl Bakery sits, entering into a 99-year lease agreement with the proprietors that will relieve their debt burden and ensure the property’s lasting service to the local food system. They will continue to own the buildings and operate their business independently, with LCLT’s partnership providing stability on this expensive island. Most importantly, their delicious bread and pastries made from homegrown wheat are still available at the farmers market, restaurants, and grocery stores across the archipelago. This example crystalizes the intrinsic link between affordability and sustainability, especially for an island community.
Living on an island, an unjust and unsustainable food system is as evident as a lack of affordable housing. However, the same issues can slip under the radar in less-defined, less supportive communities that aren’t conscribed within the boundaries of an island. On Lopez, the collaboration between LCLT and Ets Architecture presents a blueprint for tackling concerns at the intersection of sustainable agriculture and low-cost housing in rural areas nationwide. Labor scarcity is a significant challenge farmers face, as seasonal workers can’t find affordable accommodation. A Yomtov-designed farm worker housing unit on LCLT land near Still Light Farm developed to address this issue is now undergoing construction with anticipated completion next summer. At 980 square feet, it features bedrooms, a gathering space, food storage, and wet facilities “all separated from each other so that they can all be utilized independently,” says the architect. The prototype, he hopes, “ideally could be replicated at other properties.”
Dictated by the natural landscape and the ferry schedule, the bounds of the Lopezian community are clear. While we don’t often think of our urban zones in the same way, Lopez Community Land Trust offers us a community and environment-focused solution to the affordable housing crisis that can translate to the mainland.
We can all learn a thing or two from Lopez—be it maintaining the diverse fabric of our communities via affordable housing, minimizing the carbon footprint of our diets, or simply waving at our neighbors. Bishop’s aspiration for her island is commendable just about anywhere: “I see that Lopez will just become much more resilient because we have housing, land, food production, and a year-round population that is embedded, caring, and repairing the community that they live in and love.”
