Williston Woods Cooperative Housing Corporation

Independent Assessment

Williston Woods' core facts -- its 112-lot count, 1993 founding via a resident purchase of Phases II-IV of a former mobile-home park, $2,500-per-household founding share structure, and ongoing management partnership with Cathedral Square Corporation -- are confirmed consistently across multiple independent sources reviewed, including RetirementHomes.com, OpenCorporates' entity registration, and the cooperative's own site (willistonwoods.com), with the community's 55-plus senior designation independently confirmed by RetirementHomes.com, CareAvailability, and April 2025 VTDigger reporting. A material regulatory finding: VTDigger's April 2025 reporting documents that Williston Woods -- despite looking and functioning like a manufactured-home park -- does not meet Vermont's statutory definition of a 'mobile home park,' because that definition requires at least two mobile homes to sit on land owned by a single owner, while Williston Woods is structured so that residents own their homes, individually own the land parcel beneath each home (through the cooperative's homeowners-association-style parcel arrangement), and collectively own the community as a whole. This leaves Williston Woods residents -- described in that reporting as predominantly seniors on fixed incomes who often cannot afford home improvements -- unable to access certain state assistance programs available to conventional mobile-home-park residents, a gap that VTDigger reports residents and state Senator Kesha Ram Hinsdale specifically raised with Vermont's Agency of Commerce and Community Development in spring 2025, with the agency indicating it does not plan to recognize the park as eligible under current law and stating its assistance programs are meant for residents more vulnerable than Williston Woods'. This is a genuine, current, and material disclosure worth a prospective buyer's direct attention -- not a reason to avoid the community, which otherwise has an exceptionally long, stable, resident-governed operating history (over three decades) and an active management partnership with a respected Vermont nonprofit (Cathedral Square Corporation), but a real, sourced signal that residents here may have less access to state home-repair or improvement assistance than residents of a conventionally classified mobile-home park, a distinction directly tied to the very ownership structure (individual land ownership plus cooperative governance) that otherwise gives Williston Woods residents more control than a typical land-lease tenant.

Who May Find This Community Appealing

Buyers age 55 and older who specifically want one of Vermont's longest-established resident-owned manufactured-home communities -- with over three decades of stable, democratic cooperative governance and an active management partnership with Cathedral Square Corporation, a respected Vermont nonprofit focused on housing for older adults -- are the clearest match for Williston Woods. Its Williston location in Chittenden County may particularly appeal to buyers who want Burlington-metro access at a meaningfully lower cost basis than a conventional owned-HOA community in the same town, such as nearby Balsam Circle.

Homes, Builders & Development History

Williston Woods Cooperative Housing Corporation traces to September 22, 1993, when Williston Woods Associates agreed to sell Phases II, III, and IV of its mobile home park -- 112 developed lots across six streets -- to a newly formed Vermont limited-equity cooperative, the Williston Woods Cooperative Housing Corporation. Cathedral Square Corporation, a Vermont nonprofit focused on housing and services for older Vermonters, began assisting residents in forming the cooperative in 1992 and has managed the community and provided resident-services coordination ever since. At formation, residents paid $2,500 per household for a cooperative share, used as the down payment on the property's mortgage -- one of Vermont's oldest resident-ownership conversions of this kind. This is not a builder-developed community in the traditional sense; individual manufactured homes on the 112 lots were placed and are owned by residents over time.

Current Pricing & Market Positioning

A specific current individual home resale price range for Williston Woods was not found. Because homes are individually owned and sold separately from the cooperatively and individually parceled underlying land, pricing for any specific home will depend on that home's age, condition, and size. Buyers should request current available home listings and pricing directly from Cathedral Square Corporation or a local Williston-area real estate agent familiar with manufactured-home cooperative sales.

New Construction vs. Resale Considerations

Williston Woods is a fully established, built-out community with no new-construction sales program; available homes are individually owned manufactured homes sold on a resale basis, independent of the underlying, individually and cooperatively owned land. Buyers should contact Cathedral Square Corporation or the cooperative's management directly to confirm current home availability, the cooperative-share and land-parcel transfer process, and current ongoing charges for any specific lot under consideration.

Taxes, Insurance & Special Assessments

Williston Woods sits in the Town of Williston, Chittenden County, Vermont. Because land at Williston Woods is owned through a combination of individual resident parcels and collective cooperative ownership rather than a single conventional deed, property-tax treatment for an individual home and its parcel differs from a conventional owned-lot home -- buyers should confirm the specific tax treatment directly with the Williston Town Assessor's office and a real-estate attorney familiar with Vermont limited-equity housing cooperative taxation. Vermont's own Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Act (9 V.S.A. Section 4503) retains the pre-1999 federal HOPA 'significant facilities and services' two-prong formulation for its 55-plus exemption -- a legal nuance discussed in more detail on this state's own overview page. Buyers should also be aware, per VTDigger's April 2025 reporting, that Williston Woods does not meet Vermont's statutory definition of a 'mobile home park,' which affects residents' eligibility for certain state assistance programs -- a genuine, disclosed regulatory gap discussed further in independentAssessment and tradeoffsAndLimitations.

Community Layout & Lifestyle

Williston Woods is organized as a resident-governed manufactured-home cooperative across 112 lots spanning six streets, with Cathedral Square Corporation providing ongoing management support and resident-services coordination alongside the cooperative's own resident governance. Details of a dedicated on-site community center, organized social programming, or shared recreational amenities at Williston Woods beyond its cooperative governance and Cathedral Square management partnership were not independently confirmed; buyers should ask directly about current resident programming and any shared facilities.

Shopping, Healthcare & Airport Access

Williston Woods Cooperative Housing Corporation is located at 126 North Williston Road in Williston, Vermont, within Chittenden County and the greater Burlington metro area. No independently confirmed drive times to downtown Burlington, area hospitals, or Interstate 89 access points were found; buyers should confirm these directly with Cathedral Square Corporation or a local agent.

Age Qualification & Material Ownership Restrictions

Williston Woods is confirmed as a 55-plus community by RetirementHomes.com and CareAvailability, and is independently described as a senior community in April 2025 VTDigger reporting, with no conflicting source found. Published here as legally age-restricted 55+ on the strength of this consistent confirmation; buyers should request the cooperative's actual current bylaws and age-verification policy directly from Cathedral Square Corporation or the cooperative's management to confirm current restriction terms before purchasing.

Tradeoffs & Limitations

Buyers must understand a genuine, currently unresolved regulatory gap documented by VTDigger's April 2025 reporting: because of how Williston Woods' land is owned (individually by residents plus collectively by the community, rather than by a single park owner), the state does not classify it as a 'mobile home park' under Vermont's statutory definition, which means residents cannot access certain state assistance programs available to conventional mobile-home-park residents -- a real limitation for a predominantly fixed-income senior resident population, and one that, per that reporting, state officials did not indicate any near-term plan to resolve. Buyers should also understand that ownership at Williston Woods works through a cooperative-share and individually parceled land structure rather than a conventional single condominium deed -- this should be reviewed directly by a real-estate attorney familiar with Vermont limited-equity housing cooperatives, including how share value, land-parcel ownership, and any resale/transfer process work. A specific current cooperative-charge dollar figure or current share-purchase cost for a new resident was not confirmed; both should be requested directly from Cathedral Square Corporation or the cooperative's own management.

Comparison With Nearby Communities

In Chittenden County, Williston Woods sits alongside Balsam Circle (a conventional owned-HOA community also located in Williston, built by Barone Construction), Thistle Hill (Barone Construction, in nearby Hinesburg), and The Terraces (a 1985-built condominium community in Shelburne). Its defining contrast with Balsam Circle, its same-town peer, is ownership structure -- a resident-owned manufactured-home cooperative with individually and collectively owned land versus a conventional owned-HOA twin-townhome/carriage-home community -- giving Williston-area buyers a genuine choice between two structurally different, and very differently priced, paths into 55-plus homeownership within the same town. In Vermont, Williston Woods' closest structural peer is Sterling View Cooperative Community in Hyde Park, another ROC-USA-pattern, 55-plus, resident-owned manufactured-home cooperative, though Williston Woods (founded 1993) is one of Vermont's oldest such conversions, predating Sterling View's 2021 conversion by nearly three decades, and is managed in partnership with Cathedral Square Corporation rather than self-managed.

Current Listings

Cathedral Square Corporation (cathedralsquare.org) or the cooperative's own site (willistonwoods.com) can provide current home availability, share-purchase costs, ongoing charges, and the cooperative-transfer process directly.

Is Williston Woods Cooperative age-restricted?

Yes. It is confirmed as a 55-plus community by RetirementHomes.com and CareAvailability, and is independently described as a senior community in April 2025 VTDigger reporting, with no conflicting source found.

How long has Williston Woods operated as a resident-owned cooperative?

Since September 22, 1993, when residents purchased Phases II-IV of a former mobile home park to form the Williston Woods Cooperative Housing Corporation -- one of Vermont's oldest manufactured-home resident-ownership conversions of this kind.

Is there a known issue buyers should know about at Williston Woods?

Yes. April 2025 VTDigger reporting documents that, because of how its land is individually and collectively owned by residents, Williston Woods does not meet Vermont's statutory definition of a 'mobile home park,' meaning residents -- described in that reporting as predominantly seniors on fixed incomes -- cannot access certain state assistance programs available to conventional mobile-home-park residents. This is a real, current, disclosed regulatory gap worth understanding, not a reason to avoid an otherwise long-established, well-governed community.

Who manages Williston Woods?

Cathedral Square Corporation, a Vermont nonprofit focused on housing and services for older Vermonters, has managed the community and provided resident-services coordination since helping residents form the cooperative in 1992-1993.