Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Sample Rules and Regulations

[Tom Smyth (tom]

Thanks Diana, that's a really interesting point. I wonder if there are
certain policies that are more amenable to, and benefit most from, creation
ahead of time than others. One could be a vision document and other things
that will affect who even ends up joining your group. Another could be a
"loss of membership" policy for removing someone from the group.

On Tue, Feb 23, 2021 at 8:59 AM Diana Carroll <dianaecarroll [at] gmail.com>
wrote:

> Ed Sutton says "I strongly recommend that cohousing groups undertake
> drafting clear and difficult policies before building and moving in."
>
> We (Mosaic Commons, Berlin, MA) got this advice and followed it, and had a
> lot of policies around "hot topics" in place before we moved in, some even
> before we had land.
>
> And...I can't really recommend it as whole-heartedly as others recommended
> it to us.
>
> We spent a LOT of time and emotion on rules that turned out to be
> inapplicable to the site we found. We worked hard on compromises between
> people with strong feelings on multiple sides of issues -- and then some or
> all of the stakeholders in that issue didn't move in. We found paths that
> reflected the will of the group, and then the makeup of the group changed.
> And we completely failed to anticipate which things would turn out to be
> really controversial after move-in.
>
> I guess I would say it's not a bad idea to get started on "hot topic"
> policies but don't spend huge amounts of time, energy and social capital on
> them like we did.  (It took us six months to decide on a pet policy that in
> the end didn't meet our needs after move-in.)
>
> "Once a loving person has begun feeding feral cats, it is too late to write
> a pet policy."
>
> We spent 6 months on a pet policy that didn't mention feral cats once.  It
> didn't occur to us.  So had this turned out to be an issue, we would have
> had to discuss it. It's just not true that it is "too late to write a
> policy" if you didn't address it before move-in.  Fortunately that
> particular thing hasn't been a problem for us, but it certainly could have
> been...you just cannot possibly anticipate all the things that turn out to
> be troublesome, so you *must find a way to deal with them in real-time. *
>
> Diana
>
> On Tue, Feb 23, 2021 at 8:28 AM Ed Sutton via Cohousing-L <
> cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
>
> > Takoma Village and Mosaic Commons have posted excellent examples of Rules
> > and Regulations.
> >
> > I strongly recommend that cohousing groups undertake drafting clear and
> > difficult policies before building and moving in.
> > Once conflicting parties have dug in their heels and people have taken
> > sides, it is very hard to establish a conflict resolution protocol!
> > Once a loving person has begun feeding feral cats, it is too late to
> write
> > a pet policy.
> >
> > In consensus process, procrastination can be weaponized and a history of
> > avoidance becomes the community precedent/common law.
> > And in many cases, once someone has purchased a home, the community has
> > little or no legal recourse to enforce community rules or consensus
> > decisions.
> >
> > It is very important that people considering moving to a cohousing
> > community read and agree to clear descriptions of expected behavior
> before
> > buying in.
> >
> > Ed Sutton
> > Eno Commons
> > Durham NC
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > Message: 1
> > > Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2021 09:29:54 -0700
> > > From: pam gilchrist <pamgilchrist1 [at] gmail.com>
> > > To: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> > > Subject: [C-L]_ Sample Rules and Regulations
> > > Message-ID:
> > >       <
> > CAA8jimd7Gfgnz49uvjinsGLef9w7b1Enzx6A8CyHkGgtRbYSog [at] mail.gmail.com>
> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
> > >
> > > Sand River Cohousing is interested in seeing what other cohousers have
> > > developed for Rules and Regulations.
> > >
> > >
> > > ------------------------------
> > >
> >
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-- 
Tom Smyth

Worker-Owner, Sassafras Tech Collective
Specializing in innovative, usable tech for social change
sassafras.coop · @sassafrastech
Pronouns: he/him