Re: Public access through community-long
From: Bitner/Stevenson (lilbertearthlink.net)
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 15:58:04 -0600 (MDT)
> Dear cohousers,
> 
> Waitakere Eco-neighbourhood is in the early design phase of our 30 unit
> cohousing community on a 4 acre site in Auckland, NZ. Our site, though
> not a corner site, has access from 2 roads, and we are planning 2
> driveways with parking areas. A pedestrian pathway linking these 2
> carparking areas, winding between trees on the edge of the site, would
> provide a shortcut to the local shops for the wider area. We are
> considering making this a public pedestrian access.
>
> Philosophically most of our members are happy with the idea of
> contributing and integrating with the wider neighbourhood in this way,
> but there are fears about breaching the security and privacy of our
> community.
>
> Is this a situation that other communities have faced? For those of you
> who have public pedestrian access through your site, is it an asset or a
> liability to your community, and how could it work better? We'd
> appreciate any advice you might have.
>
> Regards, Robin Allison
> Waitakere Eco-Neighbourhood Cohousing Project
>
>
>
Our community has a much smaller version of what you describe. We are on a
city block that has an alley, or lane, running straight through the middle.
We were forced to keep the alley for fire code reasons, but were able to
moderately change it by having ballards(bollards?) in the middle, which are
basically big wooden poles set into holders in the ground so that cars can't
drive through. You've probably seen something like it in parks. Since it was
still possible for bikes and motorcycles to go through, we put up a
removable iron fence with gates, attached to the bollards.

What we didn't anticipate in the beginning was that the neighborhood
considered this area to be public property, and were not notified that we
had purchased it, and that it was public no longer. Due to lingering
oppositional feelings in our neighbors, they continued to use it as a cut
through, even after we asked them to stop. Since we had many contentious
meetings about this, and never came to a consensus about fencing it off
entirely, it continues to be a place where non-community members walk
through. I should say that this is an urban, working class neighborhood, and
most of our neighbors are not in any way a problem. We now know who most of
them are, and greet them accordingly. But there are a few people who are
really not desirable (drug dealers, drunks, mentally ill, etc.)walking
through our community, and those of us who live on the alley would love to
deny them access. There really is no way, and it's the only thing I would
change about our setup.

There are other positives I don't want to ignore, here. For the kids, the
alley is the interface with neighborhood children that is private enough for
them to have fun, while safely within view of their parents, who can
intervene if the play takes a bad turn. This is especially important for the
parents of young teens. I honestly don't think they would have played with
the neighborhood kids much at all if we didn't have this interface, which
would be the major loss if we had decided to close it off. It is also a way
for the adults to be friendly to our neighbors by saying hello or giving a
quick smile. That serves a dual purpose of letting them know in a friendly
way that this is our space.

Still, it's not perfect, and there have been times when I felt violated by
what I feel is our overly open site plan. I would prefer to feel that our
interior space were private, and the exterior sidewalk were the main
interaction with our neighborhood, as was originally planned. There have
been attempted break-ins to our storage units, and many bikes have been
stolen. I feel that these problems have been exacerbated by the public feel
of our space, and the quick exit possible through our alley.

I think your decision must take into account your neighborhood. If you know
that it has elements you want to keep out, it would be foolish to open up
your site plan. If you want to encourage neighborhood interaction and
goodwill, it's an excellent way to facilitate casual interaction.

If you do have an open path, remember: closing it later would be a public
relations nightmare. I'd be damn sure you have a really solid consensus
before going that route.

Feel free to email me privately if you want to discuss this at greater
lenght than this! This post is long enough-I hate reading long posts! Sorry!
--
Liz Stevenson
Southside Park Cohousing
Sacramento, California
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