John Faherty

jfaherty@enquirer.com

Just on the edge of East Price Hill is a stretch of road posing as an experiment to see if people can live sustainably and create a community all within 5 miles of a Reds game.

This neighborhood represents the edge of New Urbanism, even though it feels very old and fairly agrarian.

The Enright Ridge Urban Eco-village is kind of a cooperative and sort of a farm project. There are members, a board and elected representatives, but it is really just a string of old houses connected by a sense of belonging and a desire to eat well.

This blend of an urban environment with access to jobs, technology and transportation with classic agrarian principles of simplicity and sustainability looks to be an interesting part of the city's future.

People on Enright Avenue gather for twice-weekly potluck dinners and share tips for their backyard gardens that stretch to the woods. There are chickens and goats, and kids run from yard to yard without even bothering to notice.

"This is New Urbanism," said Jeffrey Stec. "We are just leveraging a different set of assets than they are in Over-the-Rhine. Bars, restaurants, living in close proximity, that's what they have in OTR. This is just different."

What this neighborhood offers is green space and rich soil and a commitment to living in an environmentally friendly way.

To really know what this neighborhood feels like, you need to get behind the houses and into the backyards, which are narrow and deep. "Shotgun houses and shotgun yards," said Jim Schenk, 71, who bought his home 40 years ago after he married his wife, Eileen. When he proposed, she had told him she was fourth-generation Price Hill and could not move. Could not or would not? "What difference does it make?" Schenk said.

The cultural center of the street is the eco-village, which is an "intentional community leading urban revitalization and sustainability in Cincinnati." People on the street try to use less water, fewer kilowatts and engage in transportation in more efficient ways. It's as simple as walking or riding a bike when feasible and carpooling when possible.

But belonging is not necessary to live on the street. Schenk, one of the founders of the village 10 years ago, says one-third of residents are in the cooperative, one-third think it is a good idea and one-third are indifferent. Membership is $25 a year.

Interest in this type of living appears to be growing. Stec has lived on Enright Avenue for 14 years and says when a house goes up for sale, it goes quick. "We never have a house that stays for sale. Ever. It's gone."

Stec said that people with similar interests gathering in a place is nothing new in a city like Cincinnati. "We've been doing that forever here," Stec said. "Germans used to live in a neighborhood, or Catholics used to live in a neighborhood, Italians, whatever." This neighborhood, he said, just happens to be for people who want to live closer to the earth.

And his next-door neighbors are increasingly in their 30s with children. There are now young families up and down the street.

Elaine and Matt Baker moved onto Enright Avenue 18 months ago. They had two young children, wanted to spend more time with them and knew they needed to make changes. They lived in Erlanger and started by wanting to reduce their housing expenses. But they had what they feared was an impossible list of "must-haves" for a new home.

They wanted a bigger house, a bigger yard, they wanted to have chickens and goats, they wanted to pay less and Matt wanted to be able to ride his bike to work in OTR. And they wanted to grow as much of their own food as they could. "It was kind of a very specific list; we never thought we could find something," Matt, 33, said.

But then they drove by a brick house on Enright Avenue and bought it for $63,000, which is about average for the street where houses can go from $50,000 to $80,000.Suddenly everything seemed possible.

"It really started with an interest in food and wanting to give our kids a better life and to spend more time with them," Elaine said, sitting at a picnic table in her neighbor's backyard for the Wednesday potluck. Everybody brought food, a gaggle of children were playing in the yard and the grownups were drinking beer and chatting. The Bakers now both work at home, making jewelery and selling it on Etsy.com. Other people in the 90 or so houses on the street are teachers, social workers, photographers, contractors and retirees.

"We have found it to be a very rich experience," Elaine said. "And the neighborhood has been great. Sometimes it feels like we are all raising each other's children."

It has involved sacrifice.

"You work really hard to make a little and have it work," Matt said. "We have old cars, a small TV and no central air. But we have goats and chickens, we eat really well and spend a lot of time with our kids. That's what matters to us right now."

Goats and chickens are legal in Cincinnati as long as they are not a nuisance.

The Enright Ridge Urban Eco-village resonates, in large part, because in spirit it is more than 10 years old. It is a byproduct of Imago, an environmental education organization located at the start of the street created by Jim and Eileen Schenk 30 years ago. Imago provides the woods behind the homes.

Larry Falkin is the director of the city of Cincinnati's Office of Environment & Sustainability. He says a community with an emphasis on the environment and food production is not the edge of the new urban experience, it is closer to the center.

"The entire food movement is centered on growing food closer to home," Falkin said. "Enright Ridge is a great area. This is what happens when a movement is in place for 30 years. There are roots there."

Will there be more of these types of neighborhoods in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky over the next decades?

"Oh, I don't think there is any doubt," Falkin said. "This appeals to people. And having greater control over your food sources will only be more important."

The block is not ideal. In an area that is quite diverse, the eco-village is not. This is a situation that members are aware of. "We have to address that," Stec said. He said there are black people in the immediate area that simply may not know exactly what is happening on this block. And that, he said, is easy to fix.

"I just need to walk over with a plate of cookies and say: "Hi, my name's Jeff, and this is what we are doing over here." He says he will, soon.

Suellyn Shupe runs the eco-village's community-sustained agriculture project that began in 2009. Residents grow food in their backyards and community plots. The food is harvested and given to people who buy shares. Shupe says these community gardens will be a good way to reach out to nearby residents who often stop by to ask what she is doing.

And creating neighborhood is ultimately what this street is all about. When Schenk talks about the eco-village, he puts a strong emphasis on "village."

When he first had the idea to create this thing, he invited 25 neighbors and 17 showed up. That told him all he needed to know.

"This is, and always has been about people," Schenk said. "We are involved for ecology, of course. But the sense of community here is what makes this place more than anything else." ■

The Enright Ridge Urban Eco-village

The community gives tours of the neighborhood and lists homes for sale. To learn more go to: enrightecovillage.org.