Re: Sample Rules and Regulations
From: Martie Weatherly (mhweatherlyearthlink.net)
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2021 08:23:45 -0800 (PST)
I agree with Diana. Your group is really not solid until you have found a site.

I suggest a forming group spend time on ways of getting along together such as 
communication, conflict, learning about decision making, team building rather 
than forming policies before you have your group.

Martie Weatherly

Health and Wellness Coach
Consensus Coach
www.coachmartie.com


-----Original Message-----
>From: Diana Carroll <dianaecarroll [at] gmail.com>
>Sent: Feb 23, 2021 8:58 AM
>To: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
>Cc: Ed Sutton <ed440 [at] me.com>
>Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Sample Rules and Regulations
>
>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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