Cohousing-L Mailing List: Cost Apportionment of Infrastructure

[RAYGASSER (RAYGASSER]

We at EvoVillage at Ithaca are just getting into a bit of heated discussion
about "who pays for the roads". Issue had been "settled" by assumption 
earlier, but some have questioned the Conventional Wisdom so we've re-
opened the discussion. Here are the possible scenarios:
  1) add up the total cost of building all houses and infrastructure (i.e.
     total cost for the entire community) and divide by the sq footage of
     the houses (in total) to get a true, flat, "everybody pays the exact
     same $$/SqFt". Problem: Small houses have a greater proportion of
     expensive stuff like bathroom & kitchen per house than large houses,
     so large houses effectively subsidize small houses.

  2) Everybody pays for the cost of their own house, and infrastructure is
     paid for based on each house's percentage of total community Sq Footage.
     Thus bigger houses pay a higher amount than smaller houses for infra-
     structure. Problem: "Hey, if we built all small houses or all big 
     houses, we'd still need the same road, sewer and water lines. Why should
     we big house owners have to subsidize small houses?", and "Just 'cause
     we have 4 kids, and need a big house, doesn't mean we're rich! Why
     should we pay more?"

  3) Evreybody pays for their own house, and infrastructure is divided
     evenly. Problem: Our original assumption, based on our architect's
     recommendation was for plan #2: apportion I/S cost based on SqFt of
     houses. Changing would effectively raise the cost of what was a
     $78,000 house to $84,000, a major difference to those who are on
     a tight housing budget. On the other hand, the $130,000 houses would
     drop  to $125,000, making those more affordable, or easier for those
     with several kids to get into (rather than shoehorn 3 or 4 kids +
     parents into a small 3 br for $111,000).

  4) Split the difference between #2 & #3: apportion 1/2 based on SqFt &
     1/2 based on even split: raises small 2 BR by $3,000 & drops the
     4 BR unit by $2,500.

Original assumption was #2, and everyone seemed content with that, until a
recent addition suggested "I know that's what you assumed, but was that 
assumption thought out? Is it fair? Or is it just what someone told you was
the norm?"

Soooooooo...............

What have y'all done about it out there in the already-constructed world (or
even in the firmly-decided world)?

We'd love to hear from anyone with ANY thoughts on the matter, since
we're gonna be going at it this weekend.

Thanks in advance
Ray Gasser, EcoVillage at Ithace
raygasser [at] delphi.com