New View's Charter
From: Nancy Wight (wighthpwarr.wal.hp.com)
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 93 10:06 CDT
Oops, I forgot to attach the charter!  Thanks James and Judy
for pointing that out!

We originally wrote two charters: A development charter and an
organizational charter.  The organizational charter eventually became
our legal bi-laws, which we don't have easily accessible online.  The one 
thing missing from this charter is that after we wrote it, we came up with
primary and secondary goals (I thought we had incorporated them
into the charter later).  We had each person (we were 11 then)
write down one or two things which if our community didn't have, they
wouldn't be able to stay in the community.  These were things like,
40 minutes or less commute to Boston, good schools, open space, etc.
These became our primary goals, by which we measured our decisions.
Our secondary goals were things that we felt very strongly about,
but as long as we got *most* of them, it would still be OK for people.
I don't have these online either, but eventually, we are going to get
organized such that we can send these documents to other groups who
request them (right now we can send our bi-laws for $10.00 copying and
mailing fee).


NEW VIEW NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT

Development Charter
-------------------

Group Purpose
-------------

Our purpose is to create a community whose architectural and social 
organization will enrich our daily lives.  We will design and build a 
residential development with generous common facilities, including a common 
house.  Houses will be set along pedestrian streets to encourage social 
activity.  Car access will be limited.  

We strive to create a social structure where friends and community will always 
be near, yet the privacy of our homes will be preserved.  Our shared labor, 
responsibilities, and experiences within the community will enrich our social 
environment, provide a sense of unity and belonging, reduce the overhead of 
daily living, and realize some economies of scale.


Goals
-----

We are looking for a less burdensome and alienating lifestyle.  Our primary 
goal is to enjoy the benefits of community living and shared facilities while 
supporting individual autonomy and household privacy.

We want our community to enrich our lives. We intend to build a community 
whose design and organization supports daily, casual interactions and shared 
experiences.

We want to live among neighbors who watch out for one another.    We hope that 
our common interests and responsibilities will produce a sense of unity, 
mutual trust, and belonging among the community members.

We hope to find a more ecologically sustainable way of life. We will 
investigate ways that our coordinated actions can benefit the world. Energy 
efficiency will be a high priority in our architecture.   Sharing facilities 
that would otherwise be redundant is another way to reduce our burden on the 
natural environment.

We want to make our lives easier.  Through shared facilities, labor, and 
responsibilities, we can take advantage of the economies of scale afforded by 
a cooperative group.  By pooling our resources we can enhance our living 
environments in ways that would be wasteful or unaffordable to us 
individually.  

We strive for diversity ( of age, income, race, belief, sexual orientation, 
background, etc. ) Within our community we will be as responsive as possible 
to individual needs and preferences.


Our Vision of the Community
---------------------------

We want to be a diverse group whose common ground is the community and the 
experiences we share living within it.  We dream of a community that protects 
individual privacy while it encourages sociability, and that respects each 
household's uniqueness while it invites unity. 

We envision a community in which every member does her or his part.  This 
begins with careful screening of potential members, and continues with 
policies that encourage continued participation.

We imagine a site with trees, near water, with a sense of space and peace.  It 
should be near enough to the city that mass transit is accissable.  There will 
be between 15 and 25 households,  all clustered around pedestrian streets or 
courts.  The community will focus on a common building or buildings that 
include generous facilities for dining, recreation, guests, laundry, parking, 
workshops, and offices.  Dwellings will be close-set to encourage neighborly 
interaction and to provide a maximum of open space on the site for recreation 
and solitude.

Specifics About Our Development
-------------------------------

We will begin the development process by refining our list of requirements for 
the location, the site, the buildings (inside and out), and the community.  We 
have already outlined our decision-making structure in the Organizational 
Charter,  which includes the process for incorporating new members into the 
community.   Future steps in the development process will include writing a 
budget and development plan, finding and financing a site, incorporating and 
developing community bylaws, developing a site and architectural plan, 
constructing the facilities, and developing a social and organizational 
structure for the community itself.  Each stage of development will involve 
all community members.

Location: we want to be within 40 minutes of downtown Boston (one hour 
commute at rush hour), accessible to good schools, and be near some form of 
public transit, such as commuter rail.

Site: we envision a site with

        o trees
        o water nearby for swimming
        o a minimum of 5 acres, but hoping for 10 to 15
        o 15-25 households
        o pedestrian streets
        o open space for recreation
        o undeveloped areas
        o off-street parking

Common Facilites: we propose that the common building(s) include

        o a dining room and kitchen
        o guest room(s)
        o childrens', teenagers', and adults' recreation rooms
        o laundry facilities
        o workshop space
        o offices
        o wheelchair access
        o sauna, hot tub, and exercise facilities

Individual Dwellings: 

        o Each house will have complete facilites, including kitchen and 
                dining areas, laundry hookups, storage space, etc.
        o There will be 3-5 floorplans to choose from, with provision for 
                later additions.
        o Each house will have a private and a semi-private outdoor area.
        o Most houses will be 2 stories and close-set (perhaps attached) 
                to save space.
        o All dwellings should be partly wheelchair accessible, and some 
                dwellings (nearest the common house) will be completely 
                wheelchair accessible.

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- Nancy

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