What’s New at OPAL

The Board of Trustees of OPAL Community Land Trust generally meets the second Thursday of the month from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.  in the Reddick Conference Room, 286 Enchanted Forest Road, Eastsound.  Meeting agendas will be posted here generally four days prior to the meeting: AGENDA for OPAL Board Meeting to be held Dec. 8, 2011

November 2011:

November 2011: 

1. The Baker House, moved to Oberon Meadow in February, is lowered onto its new foundation.
2. The Henigson House, moved to a storage site in August is moved to its new location at Oberon Meadow.
3. The Greer-Solien House departs Obstruction Pass via barge, lands at North Beach and arrives at Oberon Meadow.

Small Works Roster: OPAL Community Land Trust is creating a Small Works Roster for projects, such as construction, building renovation, remodeling, alteration, repair or improvements of real property, up to $300,000 in value.

All applicants must be properly registered and licensed to perform such work in the State of Washington. Download the Small Works Roster application and the OPAL Small Works Roster Policy here: OPAL Small Works Roster Application and OPAL Small Works Roster Policy.

Please return completed applications to:  OPAL Community Land Trust, Attn: Jeanne Beck, 286 Enchanted Forest Rd.,  PO Box 1133,  Eastsound, WA 98245   Fax: (360) 376-3799

If you have questions, please contact Jeanne Beck, Project Manager, at 360-317-5298 or jeanne@opalclt.org.

August 11, 2011 – OPAL moves house from Deer Harbor.  Bob and Phyllis Henigson donated a 1,000 sq. ft. residence to OPAL and on OPAL hired Nickel Bros. House Movers to move the building to Eastsound in the early morning hours of August 11th. The building, which served as the Gropper home for many years, will be located on Oberon Lane, next to the house OPAL moved to the site in February 2011.  It appears likely that a third house will join the other two later in the fall.

May 26, 2011 – OPAL Purchases 22-unit Lavender Hollow Apartments.   It took 3 1/2 years to go from the signing of the purchase and sale agreement to closing, and now OPAL looks forward to renovating the buildings to make them more energy efficient and accessible.  OPAL purchased the apartments to assure that they would continue to serve households with very low incomes.

February 25-26, 2011 – House donated to OPAL is moved to new site at Oberon Meadow. Between 10 p.m. on Friday and 6 a.m. on Saturday, a 1064-sq.-ft., two-bedroom beach house, given to OPAL Community Land Trust by Bruce and Toy Baker’s two sons and their families, was moved by barge and truck from its decades-old site on North Beach to its new location off Oberon Lane.  To accommodate the donated house in it’s new location, OPAL must seek permission from the county to revise the sub-division. Once permission is obtained, OPAL will install a road and parking area, a new foundation, utilities and renovate the house. It is expected to be ready for sale to qualifying buyers by year-end.

February 1, 2011 – House and one acre in Eastsound donated to OPAL. OPAL Community Land Trust accepted an unprecedented gift: a two-story, two-bedroom, one-bath house on a one-acre parcel of land in Eastsound, owned and generously donated by Philip Rife, who has lived on the property for 11 years.  Rife, 65, is moving to a retirement community on the mainland. “I have been very blessed in life and I’d like to give something back,” he said. “I don’t need the assets from the sale of the property. I decided to donate the house and land so someone who has not been as fortunate as I have can have a home.”  The Rife house will become OPAL’s seventh scattered-site dwelling, joining other individual properties in Olga and Eastsound. Plans are to renovate the house and have it ready for new qualified low- or moderate-income buyers by the summer.

December 2010 – Wild Rose Meadow building construction complete. Construction is complete on all 32 new homes in the Wild Rose Meadow neighborhood.  Work on the landscaping and final site details will continue into the early part of 2011.

June 2009 – Washington State awards $1.5 million for OPAL to purchase and renovate the 22-unit Lavender Hollow apartments. OPAL plans to purchase the apartment buildings in 2009 and commence renovation in 2010. The current Federal subsidized loan from the USDA Rural Housing Service will transfer to OPAL, so that the apartments will continue to provide an affordable home for low-income and very low-income seniors, persons with disabilities, young people starting into adulthood, and parents with children.

Sept. 2008 – NEW Scattered Site Home in Olga near Obstruction Pass. A long-time supporter of OPAL, Sandy Thompson, has sold to OPAL a second home she owned at a bargain price. OPAL purchased the property, retain ed ownership of the land and immediately sold the home with a 99-year leasehold interest in the land.  The price was affordable for a moderate income purchaser and is subject to the same long-term sales price formula as all OPAL homes.

OPAL Co-Founder, Michael Sky, on Peak Moment Television

Peak Moment Television brings you examples of positive responses to energy decline and climate change through local community action. Co-founder Michael Sky explains how OPAL provides 99-year leases on the homes built on community land trust property. Restrictions limiting the resale value allow owners to sell at a reasonable profit while keeping the homes affordable forever. Click on the Peak Moment Logo to link to the interview.