Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Multi-level cohousing

[David G Adams (dadams]

Harry Pasternak said,
> * It makes sense to buy a bigger piece of land and keep to single family
> homes. By the way, the price of land drops drastically if the parcel is 2
> acres or more--typically, one lot will cost the same as 25 acres!

WHHHHHHHHAAAAAAT?

Oh no, my buttons just got pressed...

The argument that kids should be thrown outside most of the time probably 
has merit, and so does the (very interesting) bit about the relationship 
between kids staying in and distance to the ground.  This in _NO_ way, 
however, leads one to conclude that single family housing is the only viable 
option.  One door at grade is sufficient for booting the little ones 
outside.  You don't need four.  Nor does it show that one should limit one's 
search to sites of 25 acres or more.

The vast majority of large cheap sites (in New England anyway) are not 
integrated into a community, and, IMNSHO, necessitate an automobile based 
lifestyle.  Think about the cumulative time spent commuting to such sites, 
add in the resources used by the cars, and consider that one's sense of 
community is limited to _only_ the neighboring cohousers.  Every minute 
spent in a car robs your child of quality time.  I think that 25+ acre sites 
with single family homes may be fine for some coho communities (Hi, Rob) but 
is not the de facto solution for many or most communities.

There. I feel better now.

Dave

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  |\/\/\/|  David G. Adams           |  Cornerstone Cohouser
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