A Boulder architect has a vision of a New Chautauqua Eco-Village where a self-governing group of homeless people can find both shelter and community in a collection of tiny homes or tents with basic city services.

It would have tiny homes, camping sites, a community center, a community garden, cooperative businesses and facilities like toilets and showers.

“This eco-village will be Boulder’s first intentional community for Boulder’s affordable housing population that includes residents who are homeless,” Morey Bean wrote in a pre-application review request submitted to the city’s Planning and Development Services department.

The location: 23 acres owned by the city near Valmont and Airport roads in eastern Boulder. It’s land the city has designated for Phase II of Valmont City Park, with a new concept plan adopted in 2015 and funding planned for 2019.

“Please note that the property is currently owned by the City of Boulder and is slated for the development of the second phase of Valmont City Park,” city planner Charles Ferro wrote to Bean in an e-mail. “The subject property is not available for the establishment of any other uses at this time.”

Bean is undeterred. In a reply email, he asked the city for a meeting to discuss the possibility of a temporary encampment and the possibility of incorporating housing into the park concept plan, which calls for flexibility to respond to “changing community desires.”

“I hope this fall that they will do what I think cities do best and provide basic infrastructure so we can provide a temporary encampment before the snow falls,” Bean said in an interview. “In the interim, an intentional community could be started there. That doesn’t mean that would be the permanent location.”

Bean, who belongs to First Congregational Church and volunteers with that congregation’s homeless outreach programs, said he has experienced a spiritual awakening in recent years that led him to want to use his professional skills to provide housing for those who don’t have it now.

He chose the name New Chautauqua in reference to the early days of Chautauqua Park when it was a retreat for teachers, another form of intentional community dedicated to learning and growth.

Bean agrees with the planner who took his application, that his project is “a square peg in a round hole.”

“It’s a political issue as much as a planning issue,” he said.

However, he believes a tiny home community on Valmont Road could be a boon both to Boulder’s homeless residents and the broader community. If housing could be incorporated into the park plan, residents could be stewards of the park.

‘They don’t want us down here, anyway’

Boulder officials plan to visit similar communities in Portland and Eugene, Ore., during a visit in late April, and several City Council members have said they are open to considering the idea as one part of the solution to homelessness. Activists have urged the city to suspend its camping ban and instead create legal encampments.

Bean said he hopes people in Boulder look to the experience of other cities to see how these communities work before assuming they would be dirty or crime-ridden.

“I would hope people would be open to learning how these communities can work successfully and have worked successfully in other cities,” he said. “The homeless community worries about these things too, and they are looking for ways to reclaim their dignity.”

A group of homeless men gathered in Central Park greeted the idea with enthusiasm.

Frank Rizzo, who sleeps in empty buildings or on rooftops most nights, called it an “awesome idea.” If it started as a tent city, the residents could use their construction skills to build the tiny homes themselves, he said. He believes such a community would be used by homeless people and that they could govern themselves.

“I don’t think people want to be downtown more than they have to, and they don’t want us down here anyway,” he said.

“Having a place for us to camp, as long as there is proper hygiene, would be wonderful,” Rupert Alanis said.

But asked about a tent city at the future Valmont City Park, Councilman Aaron Brockett paused.

“I am supportive of looking for innovative ways to provide more housing for folks,” Brockett said, adding that he looks forward to learning more in Portland. “A tent city is not something that appeals to me. Using park land for housing is really problematic.”

In an email to City Council members, Bean said he had the support of Planning Board Chairman Bryan Bowen.

Bowen said it wasn’t his intention to encourage Bean to file an application on city-owned park land. He had thought Bean would bring a proposal on land owned by a church and wondered if the city might have a role to play.

Nonetheless, he hopes the city does think seriously about how tiny homes might be part of the housing solution.

“The camping ban has proven to be pretty problematic and is not the solution, but if we’re going to provide something that is intermediate housing, there might be something that is in between sleeping with a blanket and the Lee Hill project.”

Focused on ‘getting people inside’

An apartment building at 1175 Lee Hill Drive provides 31 apartments for previously chronically homeless adults. City officials and many homeless service providers consider permanently supportive housing such as Lee Hill — an approach known as Housing First because it provides housing without requiring homeless people to get control of addictions or mental health problems or find jobs that can cover market rents — to be the best long-term approach.

While there is broad agreement now that Lee Hill is well managed, Boulder Housing Partners had to overcome strenuous neighborhood objections to build the project.

Bowen said that political reality means supportive housing will be added too slowly to meet immediate needs. He believes some of the concerns about where to put tiny home villages might be overcome if housing were dispersed on numerous small site on a pilot basis rather than on one large site.

Greg Harms, executive director of the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, said he doesn’t know if tiny homes are the right solution.

“We’ve been focused on the permanent solutions, and that is where our energy is,” he said. “We’ve been focused on getting people inside.”

Isabel McDevitt, executive director of Bridge House, a day shelter and service provider that last year opened its own transitional housing facility, said that tiny home villages have worked in other communities, but the price of land alone in Boulder makes them less practical here. Bridge House has expanded its focus on transitional services in recent years, and McDevitt said the organization will maintain that focus.

“The political reality is that this could distract from our long-term goal of permanent affordable housing,” she said. “That’s going to keep being our focus.”

Brockett agreed that finding the right location would be a challenge.

“The big question with anything like that is where, and I don’t have an answer,” he said. “There is the question of whether the model is viable and then there is the question of where. And that’s a tough question.”

Erica Meltzer: 303-473-1355, meltzere@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/meltzere