I am part of the Tibetan Cultural Society of Vancouver Island, which includes around 75 Tibetan immigrants (and some non-Tibetan spouses and friends) on southern Vancouver Island. We have been trying to work together to establish/build a co-housing development for our growing community.
Co-housing is essentially strata, but with more common areas, such as a community kitchen/dining area for pot lucks and events; shared rooms for music, children, hobbies; community garden space. For an excellent example of this, consider Pacific Gardens in Nanaimo, https://pacificgardens.ca/. This project was built on a 4-ac parcel.
What we are stumped on is how to go about starting one of these projects. We were in contact with a developer who suggested we must first find a suitable property, then look at feasibility and financing. But finding a suitable property is quite difficult! We are looking for a few acres, but these seem to be invariably within ALR. We don't have time and money to speculate on a property that would take years to rezone, if approved at all.
My latest thinking is that we should find a developer who has recently purchased a parcel, then work with them to plan and build. My question to you is: how off base is my thinking on this? What do you think would be the most straightforward way to build a ~30-50 unit strata, designed for co-housing? Also, who might be some good contacts I could approach with this question and project idea?