Cohousing-L Mailing List: Home-based businesses

[Zeke Holland (zholland]

Two Echo Cohousing would like to ask other communities how they deal with
home-based businesses.  Our Covenants and Restrictions state that lots are
for residential purposes only, except as approved by our Homeowner's
Association.  We have allowed home-based businesses, but only those that
used common land went through an approval process.  Others have just
happened, with no request, approval, review, and not much notice until one
came along that not everyone was happy about.

Now we are trying to figure out what, if any, approval process to put in
place.  We want to allow home businesses, while also protecting community
interests -- liability, safety, traffic, noise, privacy, property values,
etc.  Do we require that every business get a consensus approval?  Do we
give blanket approval but somehow deal after the fact with problems?  Do we
preapprove certain types of businesses, while requiring individual approval
of others?

What have you done in your community to address such questions?  Do you have
a document that we might use as a template/example?  Thanks for any guidance
you can provide.
--Zeke @ Two Echo Cohousing, Brunswick, ME