Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: common spaces use policy and procedures

[KAREN A CARLSON (kcarlson2]

Hello, Diana:  We at Arbco struggled with this and finally appointed a small 
group (3 then 2 people) called CHECC (Common House Coordinating Committee) that 
oversees reservations of the common house.  We have a web-based sign up and 
whenever someone reserves the space, the CHECCers get an email. We decided that 
the first charge to this committee was to say "yes" to as many events as our 
community wants.  so far, we haven't heard "but it's too busy."  CHECC doesn't 
set policies but it can bring them forward to the community to decide.  We do 
not rent our space and the only way to use it is to have a resident act as the 
host.  Large groups often give us a donation as they know they'd have to rent a 
space otherwise.  CHECC watches closely, especially if groups want to meet on 
weekend days or nights and asks hosts to inform the community about their 
event.  Because of the way we're physically configured, we expect groups to 
easily accommodate residents passing through or fetching something from the 
kitchen or using the exercise room or one of the playrooms.   Since we have a 
number of rooms it's rare that any event would use them all. Thus more than one 
space can be reserved at the same time.  We try to give our community first 
dibs on the space.  For example, our community will have a TG dinner earlier in 
the day in the large dining area and a resident's family (who will not be 
cooking their meal here) will use the smaller dining area later in the 
afternoon. We have no rules on how far in advance a room can booked.

As for cleanliness--we expect the rooms and kitchen to be left in their usual 
orderly way and this is almost always the case.  (Standards of 
neatness/cleanliness vary of course but the kitchen is usually in good shape.)  
We let hosts know if more needs to be done.

Karen Carlson
Arboretum Cohousing Community
Madison, WI


 We let hosts know if more needs to be done.
On Nov 25, 2015, at 12:47 PM, Diana Porter wrote:

> 
> How does someone go about trying to reserve the common Space?  How far in 
> advance can they reserve?  Is it first-come first-serve?  What is a small 
> group wants to use it weekly, even on a night that no one else wants to use 
> it?   Is there a cost?  If it must be clean up by those who use it, who 
> decides if it is clean enough?   Our condo association is working on a new 
> policy and we would love to see what is “usual and customary” in other 
> communities.
> 
> Thanks,
> Diana Porter
> building a community in a high rise condo building
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