Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Cohousing in Colorado and zoning approval

[Lashbrook, Stephan (lashbrook]

Dan:

You are better off to delay hearings until you have established a rapport
with the neighbors and with the political decision-makers.  You are into a
political process, and rarely a rational one.

Virtually every established neighborhood fears change.  Change is
threatening.  How do you make it less threatening?  Draw on everything you
can think of.  Find out what has worked for other developers (yes, you are
now among that breed) in your area.

Do not speak in jargon.  Use examples to which the neighbors can relate.  Be
prepared to analyze the traffic impacts (and other impacts) of your project
-- compared to what might otherwise be expected to occur there.

Find out the legal criteria that the decision-makers will use and address
every point in every presentation.  Build support anywhere you can find it.
Ask for help.  Draw on the experience of successfull cohousers in the
vicinity.  Go for professional help (attorneys, planners, architects,
whatever) from someone with a successful track record in your town.

Don't underestimate the fight or the purely political BS that you may have
to go through.

Let me know if there is some way that I might be able to help.  I have been
doing this stuff for a long time. 

Stephan




-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Revelle [mailto:drevelle [at] srt-boulder.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2001 3:56 PM
To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
Subject: [C-L]_Cohousing in Colorado and zoning approval


Hi,

We are new cohousing community forming in Broomfield, Colorado, and we have
an option on a 4.5+ acre site in the middle of an established neighborhood.
We have our first hearing in front of the planning commission in October and
our early indications are that we may meet a bit of resistance from people
in the neighborhood.  Their main concerns appear to be the impact of
construction and addition of more houses to the neighborhood.

I'm interested in what other groups have done, both to win over grumpy
neighbors and to gain city approval in the face of some neighborhood
opposition.

Thanks,
Dan Revelle
info [at] creeksidecohousing.com
www.creeksidecohousing.com

_______________________________________________
Cohousing-L mailing list
Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org  Unsubscribe  and other info:
http://www.communityforum.net/mailman/listinfo/cohousing-l
_______________________________________________
Cohousing-L mailing list
Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org  Unsubscribe  and other info:
http://www.communityforum.net/mailman/listinfo/cohousing-l