Desirability of proximity to Common Hous
From: Hungerford, David (dghungerforducdavis.edu)
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 94 11:30 CDT
400 feet is a REALLY LONG WAY from the common house.  At Muir Commons, the 
farthest house is <250 feet away, and even that makes running back to the 
house to check on the kids or grab an ingredient the common house doesn't 
have while cooking inconvenient.  Lugging laundry back and forth is 
inconvenient as well, and we have wonderful weather most of the time.  As far 
as privacy/activity goes, it seems that is not nearly as much a function of 
how far you are from the common house as it is how many houses there are 
beyond you.  In other words, privacy/activity is a function of  how many 
people pass your house on the way to the common house.

Its also the case that your proximity to an amenity (e.g. a "gathering node" 
affects how many people are hanging out in front of your house.

People with smaller children (<7) seem to prefer being near where they can 
supervise their kids--and our personal experience is that kids require MORE 
supervision in cohousing than they would in a subdivision of single family 
homes.  If your kids want to be at the common house, or to be playing "around 
the site" then you can't just stay at home to finish the (fill in your own 
list of endless household tasks.)

Do you have parking near your houses or is it clustered by the common house?  
Seems I remember that your group has garages--a very good idea in Ithaca (we 
long for one in Davis.) If not, very few people would be thrilled at the 
prospect of lugging groceries 400 feet through the snow.

good luck

david hungerford
Muir Commons

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