Tiny Timbers is a place where people who believe in the tiny home movement and share a love for gardening and the outdoors can come together and live in a year round community of similar minded individuals.  From wanting a smaller footprint, to debt freedom, to better stewardship of the land around us people choose this lifestyle for many reasons.  We believe residents should have privacy in their homes but not be isolated from nature and the friends around them.  We encourage pot lucks, classes, and creating your own supply of healthy and diverse foods.  Just like past generations connected with and relied more on their neighbors, we feel 16 residents don’t need 16 individual lawn mowers, 16 wheelbarrows and 16 pressure canners.  Together with shared resources and shared knowledge more is accomplished and long-lasting friendships are made along the way.      

Currently there are 16 spaces in phase one. Residents started moving in June of 2023. We were still wrapping up projects as people moved in, but wanted residents to get settled in time to establish the gardens for the summer season. Once we catch our breath, if there is demand for expansion and engineering looks workable (terrain get hillier) we can consider the possibility of expanding.  Please join the newsletter to keep informed of any openings on current spaces or future plans.

Yes! We do not provide homes so you will need to bring your own “certified” tiny home.  The city of St Croix Falls will require they be certified.  RVIA, NOAH, or Pacific West are all acceptable certifications. 

The home has to be between 150-399sq ft on the main floor and no wider than 14’.  This means regular 8.5’ wide and park model sizes are allowed.  Max height of 15’.   Large builders typically have the RVIA seal but small builders or DIY individuals can work with the NOAH to get their homes certified.  Certifying during the build process is easiest and highly recommended but there is an option for afterwords, which typically requires dismantling part of your home.

In the interest of keeping the community looking nice and setting a good example for other states or municipalities that are considering tiny home communities the land owner has architectural approval on the homes and type of skirting to be sure something ugly and haphazarly done isn’t brought into the community.  The land owner will also conduct annual spring maintenance inspections and alert you if repairs/improvements are needed.  Please reach out before you order your tiny house just to be sure any tweaks aren’t needed for the final design.  You are welcome to use anyone qualified to connect your home to utilities, install heat tape, and skirting.  We do have a local contractor that you can consider reaching out to for these services who has pricing for approved skirting products.

Please email us at TinyTimbersOffice@gmail.com for examples on what features will be allowed or not allowed.

Yes during the zoning process the city set up THESE RULES (click).

Yes, a max of 3 domestic pets per household.  We recommend thinking long and hard about how many pets you want to add to a small space.  Homes that are rented may be restricted further.  Rules for pets are further spelled out in the community rules & info document.

Each site will come with a 10×12 shed for storage.  Garbage & recycling is included.  Snow & Lawn care is included as well as a designated raised bed, designated space in the root cellar & greenhouse, and use of other common space such as the pavilion, trails, sledding hill etc.   One bee hive per every 4 tiny homes will be provided per year by the land owner (subject to availability).  Unless someone wants to maintain the hives the land owner will assist with this.  The lease is $495/mo.

All the following utilities will be run to each site for you to connect to as you need: City water/sewer, electric, natural gas, internet (spectrum).  You will be responsible for connection & the monthly cost of these items.  

The lease will be for 3 years but with a 90 day notice you can decide to leave early at no penalty as long as you stay a min of 8 months or more total.  You can sublease your unit but it will be a joint effort in making sure the tenant passes the background check and questionnaire form and the tenant must stay 8 months or longer.  Short term rentals are not allowed in any of the tiny homes. 

The residents of the community are responsible for keeping the gardens and edible landscape weeded and maintained.  All the fruit, veggies, honey, etc belong to the community. 

Yes, commerce is encouraged to help with the cost of seeds, chicken feed, and other community expenses.  The residents are in charge of the day to day operations of the community and together and can decide how to handle excess produce.  There is also a food bank in town that accepts fresh perishable items.

There are locations within the community that will work for putting your solar such as on a pedestal behind the pond or on the pavilion roof next to the solar that runs the common space.

Close! Most stores are a walk, bike, or golf cart ride away! 

Roughly ½ mile away are stores such as: Marketplace, Walmart, Tractor Supply, Dairy Queen, Subway, Holiday Gas Station, Lamperts Lumber, Banks, Loggers Restaurant, Laundromat, Great Clips. 

Roughly 1 – 2 ½  miles away are additional stores such as Menards, Fine Acres Market , St. Croix Health (Hospital), St. Croix Family Dentistry and other Dentists, St. Croix Falls Public Library, Valley Sweets, 3 Arrows Coffee, Tangen Gifts, Kwik Trip, The Food Forest Organic Cafe, and Be Wild Burgers to name a few

St Croix Falls is known as the “city of trails” with 14 trail heads including the start of the ice age trail and the gandy dancer trail.  Interstate park boasts of all kinds of activities including canoeing/kayaking, swimming on Lake O’ The Dalles, hiking, camping, riverboat rides, & more.  Winter sports include skiing & tubing at 2 nearby ski resorts, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, cross county skiing or ice fishing on nearby lakes.  Visit our animal friends next door at Fawn-doe-rosa and feed the deer and goats right out of your hand.  Inspire your inner creativity at the Franconia sculpture park.  Enjoy area maple syruping farms in the spring and pumpkin/apple farms in the fall.  Lots to see and love!

Visit www.thestcroixvalley.com to learn more!

In Tiny Timbers we are aiming to be better stewards of the land and allow regeneration to occur within the soils for a healthier ecosystem and healthier more nutritionally dense foods. Solutions that are organic in nature are allowed and we encourage the involvement in beneficial insects/predators to aid in a balanced system.

Tiny homes are unique because they are on wheels so there is not the same type of property tax however we all need to participate in paying for the police, city workers, administration, etc where we live so the city will have a PILOT (payment in lu of tax) fee to cover those services. The city mill rate will be calculated off the home’s value just like a traditional home would be. At this time the estimated cost is believed to be roughly $300 annually per 60k of home value. The land owner will be paying traditional property tax on the shared spaces/infastructure.

You will have expenses with the initial registering the home with the DMV and then less expensive annual renewals. There will be an expense of connecting to the utilities on site and having an approved skirting installed. You can use any qualified individual do this or we have a contractor that is familiar with the project that you can reach out to.

Fill out the forms and email them to TinyTimbersOffice@gmail.com  We will then email you a copy of the community rules & info to review. After calling references and viewing the information if moving forward the next step would be a background check.  Once that is complete and approved you can reserve your lot with a 3 month rental deposit and we will establish a lease.  If there is a waiting list and you make it past the background check we will notify you once phase 2 or an opening becomes available and you will have to decide quickly if you wish to move forward and put down your deposit at that time.  If you end up not proceeding once the lease is signed and I can fill your space without lost rent your deposit will be returned or prorated but if I am unable to fill it in time your deposit will be forfeited.