Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Parking issues

[Stephen Hawthorne (hawthorn]

Blue Heron is still at the site plan stage, so we don't have any 
real life experience in *this* community re parking. We, too, plan
to be mostly pedestrian oriented and have been able to be
exempt from the county ordinances regarding roads and curbs, etc,
because we are a coop and own the land as a corporation.  The county
ordinances apply to subdivisions, which we are not.

We intend to have driveup access to all houses, which will happen
of necessity during construction in order to bring in trucks with
concrete, etc., but to limit daily auto usage of the small lanes as much as
possible.

We are considering using electric golf carts within the community for
transporting groceries and so forth from the main parking areas to individual
houses.

My personal experience with golf carts comes from spending time on
Bald Head Island off the NC coast.  The only access to the island is by
ferry and there are no cars on the island (other than construction crew
vehicles.  Every house has a golf cart and it is extraordinary how easy  it
is to live without an automobile.

Most of our public places in America have been designed for auto rather
than pedestrian usage and the visual, psychological and environmental
impact is devastating.  I hope you are able to keep your community
pedestrian oriented.

Stephen Hawthorne
Blue Heron Farm
Chatham County, NC