Here is a link to the Town of Melbourne Village itself, rather than the Homesteading website:
http://www.melbournevillage.org/home.html
This is from their homepage:
The Town of Melbourne Village, Florida
Melbourne Village is a town of about 700 residents and one half of one square mile surrounded by Melbourne and West Melbourne. The Town is approx. 90% residential – about 310 lots – mostly owner occupied. We have about 20 acres of commercial land in 5 parcels, four of which are currently developed and occupied. The remaining one is vacant land and will probably be developed in the next ten years. The annual town budget, including the 24/7 police department, is about $650,000.
Melbourne Village was founded in the 1940s by the American Homesteading Foundation (AHF) as an intentional community based on the idea of creating a community of self-sufficient homesteads. The Town incorporated in 1957 and developed into a more "standard" model of a bedroom community for the space industry and support professionals, with a very active and fairly powerful home owner's group in the AHF.
The Town retains much of the sense of community, and community purpose, of the founding group, as well as the idea of community action. The Town has been ahead of the curve on many issues, including environmental concerns.
This is from American Homesteading Foundation's site:
http://www.melbourne-village.com/home.html
American Homesteading Foundation
The American Homesteading Foundation (AHF) is the founding organization and developer of a unique intentional community, Melbourne Village, in Brevard County, Florida. The AHF is a not-for-profit corporation chartered first under the laws of the State of Ohio in 1946 and more recently in Florida in 1977.
The founding members of the organization had an idealistic vision of a community which would share resources, barter with one another, and engage in productive enterprises.
In the late 1940s ranch land was bought and subdivided in generous residential lots with winding streets and many parks. Lots and memberships were sold. Today there are about 300 member homesteads in the Village.
Today, the AHF functions much like a homeowners association. It manages a recreation hall, swimming pool, offices and about 40 acres of parkland. It sponsors recreation and social events including 4th of July parade, Halloween party, Easter egg hunt, game nights, Christmas dinner, and flea market.
The AHF works closely with the municipally of Melbourne Village (Town). The latter provides security with a 24/7 police department, issues building permits, and maintains the roads and drainage infra structure.
I don't know what's up with the links to the Document Library not working. I emailed them to ask about that. They were working this summer when we were looking at moving there. I have them all printed out. I did look up the one-time fee, and it is currently $2,000. There is a Certificate of Incorporation of The Florida Homesteading Foundation, Inc.; Bylaws for same; something called "This Indenture" (which covers rules such as 1)definition of "homesite", 2) homesites for singl family only, etc., 3) homesites may not be subdivided, 4) prevention of "obnoxious structures:, 5) livestock may be kept, 6) rules for selling homesites, 7) these agreements shall run with the land conveyed,
each ruled deemed separable provision, 9) "Foundation" rights to enforce the rules
Hope this is helpful.
Karen
