During the late 1980's, residents met and struggled to define their vision for the community - how it should operate and what is should become. They adopted a consensus decision making procedure. In 1988, McCamant and Durrett published the Cohousing book. After much discussion, the residents decided to adopt the cohousing model and the cohousing name for what they were doing. It was this vision which really created N St's momentum.
Today there are twelve contiguous houses as part of the community, but it is likely to grow further.
It was not until 1991, however, that the community took its present shape. In the cohousing lingo, it became the Common House. Eating meals together regularly has become a part of the life. Initially, this took the form of potlucks in the different houses, but has since evolved into meals cooked by a team in the common kitchen. N St is atypical of cohousing communities.