PESWiki.com -- Pure Energy Systems Wiki:
Finding and facilitating breakthrough clean energy technologies.

OS:Utah Safe Haven Village Project
From PESWiki
Page first featured July 28, 2009
- Shortcut URL: http://SafeHavenVillages.org
- Mission Statement
- "Safe Haven Villages are intentional communities based on principles of sustainability, educational outreach, healthy living, natural healing, individual responsibility, cooperation, and renewable energy. We are dedicated to an earth-friendly, family-friendly environment through commitment, honor and integrity (CHI)."
The group favors zero-impact building concepts (e.g. EarthShips) for dwellings, which would surround a community center that would house common-use items to share, such as a kitchen, dining room, tool shop, theatre room, craft room, recreation room, and exercise room.
The site they are presently considering to start out on is just south of Spring City, Utah, tucked away from view in all directions by mountains and hills, yet just a 10-15 minute drive from most modern conveniences in nearby cities of Ephraim and Mt. Pleasant.
Though a primary driver for starting the community is to prepare for societal meltdown in the United States, those involved in the community look at this more as an opportunity to finally live the way they've been dreaming and talking for years. In other words, this is not an interim, transient condition, but it is to be a model for more enlightened living, both with the land and with each other. The community will aim to be off-grid as much as possible using sustainable techniques.
Sterling D. Allan, CEO of PESNetwork, Inc., which runs this PESWiki site, is heavily involved with this project. His home in Eagle Mountain, which was sold on Oct. 28, 2009, is being rolled over via a 1031 exchange into land for the community, as well as for building materials for a replacement home in the community, relying on the community to provide labor for the balance of the value.
- Status
- As of Nov. 3, 2009, we are looking at various properties in Sanpete County, UT, for land for the first community. One is a 90-acre property situated on the south slope of "White Hill" south of Spring City, Utah. Another is a 40-acre plot with a 'warm' spring NW of Mt. Pleasant. Another is a 25-acre plot 2 miles up Canal Canyon rd SE of Spring City.
- "While Central Utah might not be where you can or want to relocate, we hope that the concepts presented here will inspire you to do something similar in a location of your choosing. Feel free to let us know about your community, and we can list it in our Communities directory, if you're so inclined; or you can post a link yourself. Also for a more comprehensive listing of communities, see http://ic.org" -- Sterling
Contents |
Official Sites
This present page, for now, is the official home page for Safe Haven Villages, incorporated as a 501(c)3 on Aug. 22, 2009.
- http://SafeHavenVillages.org - forwards to this present page at PESWiki.
Social Networking
- http://utahsafehaven.ning.com - primary interface (private)
IC listing
- http://directory.ic.org/21311/Safe_Haven - The Safe Haven listing at the Foundation for International Communities website.
Project Pages
Supporting Materials for the Project Concepts
Overview
The purposes of the community are:
- Emergency - Ensure a safe place to go in times of upheaval. There will be a community center for cooperative ventures. The community is hidden from main roads. Structures will generate their own electricity and collect their own water. There is plenty of dead wood to burn for extra heat. There is a well on the site which will [need to be enlarged].
- Recreation - Members can visit and stay at the community center all year round.
- Residence - Those who would like to live full time at Safe Haven may either build homes and/or be stewards of the community center. Those who contribute a significant amount of resources (Cash, labor,trade) will be given rights to a plot.
- Healing Center - The property and community center will be dedicated to the healing arts with seminars and ongoing workshops to teach and facilitate healing, physically and spiritually.
- Spiritual retreat - The community, though primarily of Christian background, will be open to all practices that promote spiritual growth. (Eastern meditation, Native American sweatlodges, etc.)
- Sustainable learning center - The community will be off-the-grid and will have natural buildings. We will hold workshops to teach these various methods.
Buildings:
- Natural Building - The Earthbag, cob, Hobit and Earthship homes seem to be the most cost effective. See pics.
- Power - Solar, wind and other renewables
Food:
- Gardens - There will be an outdoor community garden during the growing season and green house/houses including wallapinis during the winter.
- Livestock - Chickens and goats can be brought in as long as a continual caretaker is there.
Other:
- Leadership - Consensus
Documents
Safe Haven Villages: Values
Approved by the Safe Haven Villages founding members Sept. 2, 2009
Family Friendly – Our community will be conducive to raising children who are responsible, nurtured, mentally curious, and creative. The adults strive to model healthy behavior.
Personal Sovereignty - We support the principles of freedom. We take personal responsibility for our actions and our needs.
Work Ethic - We all work minimal community hours while valuing free time and the pursuit of personal empowerment.
Spirituality -We have no set religion or spiritual belief. Most have a Judeo-Christian background and a lot of us enjoy Native American or Eastern spiritual practices.
Sustainability - Our building practices, water usage, food production, and energy production aspire to a seven generation model. Our goal is a zero impact lifestyle.
Alternative Buildings – Buildings are various debt-free and earth friendly types that minimize the use of manufactured products: earthships, domes, rammed earth, cob, etc.
Leadership - We strive for consensus, but accept decisions with an 80% majority if consensus cannot be reached.
Diet - Most of us are omnivorous with a few vegetarians, vegans and raw.
Relationships – Our community consists of families, couples and singles in a wholesome atmosphere. We value exclusive committed relationships.
Limitations - Our community is free of all illegal activities including drugs. We have no public drunkenness, public nudity, freeloaders, vulgarity, visible junk, and abusive behavior. Smoking is allowed only in designated areas or personal homes so that the smoke does not impact others in the community.
Conflict Resolution - We commit to constructively and peacefully working out our differences.
Safe Haven Villages: Vision Statement
Approved by the Safe Haven Villages founding members Sept. 2, 2009
Safe Haven Villages are sustainable, green, off–the-grid communities that nurture sovereign and responsible citizens. We are looking for mature, responsible people with skills of all types: teachers, builders, artists, professionals, healers, businessmen, musicians, craftsman, seamstresses and chefs, to name a few.
We envision a large community center surrounded by twelve to sixteen homes with a comparable number of guest homes nestled in the middle of eighty acres. The community center plans include a commercial kitchen, dining area, library, media center, rooms for guests, a healing center, craft room, play room, wood shop, classrooms, and greenhouse. We envision a commercial site for businesses, storage sheds, a few farm animals and gardens of all kinds. Working together we can be free of so much: utility bills, mortgages, high food costs, ill health, and stress. We will have creative, fulfilling and personally sustaining work; living and working together, so that people's lives and work are integrated into a unified environment.
While most of us have a Judeo-Christian background, many incorporate other belief systems: Native American, New Age, Eastern and others. We are spiritual rather than religious, though individuals with a particular religion/belief system are supported.
The community offers workshops and wellness training devoted to health, joy and living sustainably. Using CHI to represent the spirit of our community our fundamental principles are Commitment, Honor and Integrity.
COMMITMENT: (agreement, pledge) Each adult commits to one to ten hours of community service a week on average, depending on Membership type. We uphold the principles and by-laws of Safe Haven Villages. We honor the living earth and commit to use only that which we need. While respecting individual needs, we minimize materialism and the habit of ever-increasing consumption that is common in the West today. We care for all life nonviolently and humanely.
HONOR: (revere or hold in high regard) We honor committed relationships between two people and strive to be good role models for the children. All members and guests on the property honor and respect other’s boundaries. We take responsibility for our actions. We reveal, not conceal our frustrations or problems with others in the community. We honor other members by working through challenges with honesty, insight and kindness. We honor personal sovereignty and acknowledge our responsibilities as citizens.
INTEGRITY: (adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character and honesty) Our word is our bond. If we say we will do something, we honor that commitment. We abide by the intent of the community documents and not just by the words and legalities. We fulfill our hours of service, and respect and truly care for others.
If you are a committed, honorable and integral person who would like to live in a sustainable community of spiritual, fun-loving and kind people, Safe Haven Village is the place for you. While part of our motivation for this community is to provide a refuge from possible civil meltdown, regardless, we aim to create the ideal sustainable community of the future.
Safe Haven Villages: Membership Documents
- Safe Haven Villages Membership Agreement - approved Aug. 2009
- Exhibit A: Mission Statement, Values Statement
- Exhibit B: Membership Agreement: Payment Plan
- Exhibit C: Utah Residential Lease Agreement
- Steps to Membership - 1st- Check us out "on-line"; 2nd- Read our values statement; 3rd- Choose the level of membership you are interested in; 4th- Fill out membership agreement and send with deposit; 5th-- Become approved; 6th- Become a full Resident Member with voting rights and either purchase a 99 year lease or rent a room from others. (Ning; Safe Haven Villages [login required]; Nov. 3, 2009)
Other Documents
- Community Concept Overview
- Membership Overview – brief explanation of what involvement entails
- EcoVillage Membership – more detail on the levels, expectations and benefits of membership
- Community Center – desired components
- Safe Haven Village -- PowerPoint - by Susan Carter, July 2009
Group Photos

Photo taken Sept. 2, 2009.
Left to right, back row: James C. Torgersen (Torg), Charles Ford, Kathleen McIntyre, Renee Shaw, Susan Carter, Cheri Allan, Sterling Allan, Rex Vaughan
front row: Allan kids: Christian, Emilee, Aubrie, Hailee
Land Description
Presently we are looking at various properties in Sanpete County, Utah.
The Area
- Google Map showing Spring City area.
- Google > Spring City, Utah
- Google > Ephraim, Utah
- Google > Moroni, Utah
- Google > Manti, Utah
- Google > Mount Pleasant, Utah
- Google > Fountain Green, Utah
House for Sale to Get SC Property
The Eagle Mountain, UT house where Sterling D. Allan and his family lived was sold on Oct. 28, 2009 and is being put into a 1031 roll-over to secure the SHV land as well as building materials to build a new, sustainable home, relying on the community to provide labor.
Other Resources
EarthShip
- http://EarthShip.org - Earthship Biotecture is a global company offering proven, totally sustainable design and construction services worldwide. Our company is led by Michael Reynolds, the principle biotect and creator of the Earthship Concept. An earthship is the ultimate in ecohome design and construction. A completely independent building design leading the industry of green building, sustainable design and construction. Earthship buildings have the smallest carbon footprint and perform with the least amount of fossil fuels. Overall, from construction materials, where they came from, how the earthship is design and how it performs... earthships are the most sustainable building method on the planet.
- Heating & Cooling Earthships maintain comfortable temperatures in any climate, with zero fossil fuels. Stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer with thermal mass and insulation.
- Energy - Produce your own electricity from solar and wind modules. Use computers, microwaves, music equipment, sensitive equipment, etc. Automated, selective power sources.
- Water - Catch water from the sky, use clean potable water - independent of municipal water supplies. Flush your toilet, treat your sewage, contained - onsite.
Sustainable Resources
Resources for Info on Society Meltdown
- http://CoasttoCoastAM.com - exploring cutting-edge, enlightened, outside-the-box thought in all areas
- Web Bot Predictions - George Ure & 'Clif' discussed their web bot technology which has continued to give archetype descriptors of the future. They foresee a number of negative cycles/events converging over the next few years (Tuesday July 21, 2009)
- Jericho - Watch seasons 1&2 on Netflix. "This CBS entry into the serial drama genre revolves around a small town in Kansas that finds itself cut off from the rest of the world after a mushroom cloud appears on the horizon, and a TV and radio blackout ensues. Has there been a terrorist attack or a preemptive nuclear strike? Faced with terrifying uncertainty, the town -- including the mayor (Gerald McRaney) and his prodigal son (Skeet Ulrich) -- begins to come apart at its seams."
- http://NaturalNews.com - health, politics, with keen perspective
- http://PrisonPlanet.com - Alex Jones' site
In the News
- Featured: Building > Earth Bag > Sterling's Home > Blog >
Post 1: Progress so far toward establishing our home in a new intentional community - A review of the saga so far, and a look at what is ahead. An invitation for participation by way of input to come up with a great design and final product in a short period of time. (Nov. 3, 2009) Also: Chat with Owen Geiger about earth bag design - covers recent Q&A correspondence and suggestions from a sustainable building expert. (Allan's Sustainable Home; Nov. 6, 2009)
- Featured: Building > Safe Haven Villages >
A bit distracted while we move to Tolbert's solar guest house - You'll have to excuse the sparsness of our news recently as I'm in the middle of a move to a solar guest house we'll be staying at while planning then building our own renewable/sustainable home. We've found the radiant floor heat from the solar thermal panels to be pleasant and preferred to forced air heating. Now we need to par down all the unnecessary stuff we've accumulated. (PESWiki; Oct. 27, 2009)
- Featured: Communities > Safe Haven Villages > Sterling's Home >
My sustainable home project -- still looking for clean energy generator - Maybe you have some ideas for locating the best renewable energy options and optimizing our sustainable design. We've accepted an offer on our present home, so the 1031 roll-over clock is ticking. (PESN; Sept. 19, 2009) (Comment)
- Featured: Communities > Safe Haven Villages >
Safe Haven Villages to implement sustainable community designs - Interview about sustainability and intentional communities in general, building types, such as earth ships; compost toilets, gray water recycling, rainwater harvesting; renewable energy; greenhouses; community documents, and things that make communities work. (PESN; 9/9/9) (Comments)
- Featured: Communities >
Utah Safe Haven, Sustainable Village Project - I'm involved with a group of people who are preparing to build an intentional community based on principles of sustainability, healthy living, natural healing, individual responsibility, cooperation, and renewable energy. In short, it is about alternative, enlightened everything. Interested? (PESWiki; July 28, 2009)
Events
The Safe Haven Villages group has been meeting weekly, mostly in the Salt Lake valley area. For upcoming meeting times and locations, see the contact section below.
Contact
- Susan Carter , real estate and contract broker
phone: 801-400-3242
Email: <susan {at} pureenergysystems.com>
- Renee Shaw, Safe Haven concepts development
Email: <renee {at} empowermentchannel.org>
- (Torg) James C. Torgersen, MD DSC PhD - He's the "professor" of our Gilligan's Island.
Emails: <drtorg {at} hotmail.com>
- Sterling D. Allan of PESWiki; keeping an eye out for feasible renewable energy systems.
- Kathleen McIntyre - Secretary
Email: <seniorontherun {at} hotmail.com>
See also
- Other Open Source Projects
- PESWiki main index
- PES Network Inc.












