Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: re-opening major decisions (WAS senior vs. multigen)

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Feb 27, 2017, at 10:58 AM, Eris Weaver <eris [at] erisweaver.info> wrote:
> 
> However, despite the original intent to establish an age restricted
> (prospective members limited to 55-75 at application to join) community,
> some in the community are now pushing to revisit the possibility of
> multigenerational v senior only. 
> 
> To me, the key issue here is not really about senior v
> multigenerational, but about re-opening major decisions. 

And I heard a third question — how would things change if we were to do Senior  
or Multigenerational? How would the community change? Can we change midstream. 

So I thought the question was about the particulars of each, not what was best 
or worst.

> t is best NOT to re-open
> major decisions unless and until there has been a major change in
> circumstances OR there is compelling new information. 

I agree with Eris’s recommendations on this. It’s hard to make decisions that 
might close out future members, but it is also hard to keep changing decisions, 
particularly major ones. 

If you decide on no pets, maybe you will lose households But on the other hand, 
households have to know what they are committing to. Even if they are not yet 
committing money, they are committing emotional attachments and time. It’s a 
commitment will change their lives.

If people commit on the basis of having outdoor cats, and then the group 
changes that policy, what do they do with their 3 life companions? Or having 
children? Or no children?

One option is to be clear about where you are open to options, but get clear 
about something. Make decisions. It won’t be easier later. Some groups want to 
wait until everyone is there so they won’t be dominating the decisions. They 
want a democracy with everyone having a voice. That’s too late. And people will 
keep changing their minds until the actually move in.

You need to begin costing out what various options will require in facilities 
or site plans long before you have even 70% of your units asked for. What does 
it mean to have 6 dogs? Should you design for fences? Or a dog run?

When we began discussing pets, some wanted to have cats allowed in the CH with 
litter boxes, etc. But then we added up the cats —13. No one, even the cat 
owners wanted 13 cats in the CH. One person was fostering 5 cats. (Allergies 
ultimately ruled any cats out.)

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org