Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: need feedback re community pet policies

[Diana Carroll (dianaecarroll]

Joanie was that directed at me? We certainly have bird lovers here at
Mosaic. That's one of the reasons we have a limit, as a compromise between
people opposed to outdoor cats and people who have outdoor cats.  and
probably part of why the actual number has been going down instead of up.
My concern about the exception request was theoretical, no one has ever
actually requested an exception since the initial round of move ins when
people brought cats who were already accustomed to life outdoors. For some
cats it's not really feasible to transition them to indoor only.

Diana, keeper of three indoor only cats

On Tue, Jul 30, 2024 at 2:08 PM Joanie Connors <jvcphd [at] gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm surprised you have not run into bird lovers in these discussions about
> cats outside, since cats kill so many birds.
> As a cat lover who loves birds, I've chosen to restrict my cats to life
> indoors. So far they do not seem to be suffering.
> Joanie
> No community yet
>
>
> On Tue, Jul 30, 2024 at 10:45 AM Diana Carroll <dianaecarroll [at] gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Four dogs for the whole community? How does that work in practice? If the
> > community is at capacity, and someone needs to sell their house, do you
> > tell them they can't sell their unit to dog owners? What happens if
> > someone's dog has puppies? What happens if someone gets married and their
> > new spouse has a dog?
> >
> > Sorry, I know you didn't create the policy, I'm just having trouble
> getting
> > my mind around your existing policy.
> >
> > Liz Magill already shared the key points of Mosaic Commons's policy, but
> I
> > want to add one bit, which is that the limit on outdoor cats is "soft",
> > meaning someone could ask the Trustees for an exception. No one has yet
> > done so -- the number of outdoor cats has gotten fewer over the years,
> not
> > more -- but speaking as a former Trustee, I found the policy troubling.
> > What if we did hit capacity and someone did ask? On what basis would we
> > make the exception? The policy provided no guidance. Is it an automatic
> yes
> > unless there's some egregious reason to say no? What if we say yes to one
> > household, and then no to another...will that appear to be favoritism?
> This
> > is really a larger issue with policy exceptions in a cohousing context,
> but
> > our pet policy is one of the few policies that explicitly calls out
> > exceptions being possible.
> >
> > Diana
> >
> > On Tue, Jul 30, 2024 at 10:22 AM Bonnie Fergusson via Cohousing-L <
> > cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
> >
> > >      Pets are a frequently controversial topic in Cohousing
> communities.
> > > Our policy here which is working so far is that there is no limit on
> pets
> > > but none are allowed in the Common House (due to allergies) and all
> > > dogs must be on a leash or under good voice command in the presence of
> > > their owners (depends on how well trained the animal is—we have one
> > elderly
> > > choweenie who is totally socialized, and unthreatening who is pretty
> much
> > > always off leash; the rest of the dogs are always leashed when outside
> on
> > > our premises. The cats are not allowed in the garden because their poop
> > was
> > > a problem for the Garden Committee folks, although there are feral cats
> > who
> > > gain access so I don’t know how useful that rule is.  Cats are only
> > allowed
> > > outside in the presence of their owners who keep an eye on them.  In
> > theory
> > > no pooping or peeing is allowed in the garden area and of course owners
> > are
> > > required to clean up any accidents.     Good luck in working out rules
> > that
> > > work for your community.Bonnie FergussonSwans Market CohousingOakland,
> CA
> > >
> > >
> > > Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad
> > >
> > >
> > > On Tuesday, July 30, 2024, 5:04 AM, lisa pletka <lisampletka [at] 
> > > gmail.com
> >
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > >  Hello, co-housers
> > > I am a fairly new member at Santa Rosa Creek Commons, a limited equity
> > > intentional community in Santa Rosa, CA. Our community is now 42 years
> > old,
> > > and there has been some contention around pets and how many are allowed
> > on
> > > our campus. (Our long-standing policy permits only 4 dogs and 8 cats
> on a
> > > campus housing 35-40 people.) I am serving on an ad hoc committee to
> > > re-evaluate our pet policy.
> > >
> > > I would really appreciate hearing from other co-housing communities
> about
> > > the pet policies that work for you. Specifically, do you set a limit
> for
> > > the number of animals allowed per household or in the community as a
> > whole?
> > > Plus any other restrictions you think are important.
> > >
> > > Thanks in advance for your feedback -- Lisa Pletka
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> > >
> > >
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