Cohousing-L Mailing List: Common House and grounds design questions

[Diane C. Burgoon, Hydrologic Technician, Atlanta, GA (dburgoon]

A little background:

I'm a newcomer on the block, so bear with me! I'm a member of the Lake Claire 
Cohousing Community in Atlanta, Georgia. We are hoping to break ground this 
spring. Our pricing drawings (hopefully - final) are going to the developer 
today!!! Yay! Yahoo!   We are a small, 12 unit, urban community.

The group came up with a few question for me to post; so, I hope, here they 
are: 

1) Has anyone synthesized Common House questions and comments posted on the 
   internet?

2) Any experience as to what size, quality (maybe used) appliances would be 
   appropriate for the Common House (we are only 12 units)?

3) What have groups of a similar size worked out for scheduling tasks at the
   common house and on the grounds?

4) What can we do now (design, planning ...) to avoid repairs and reduce 
   maintenance problems, again in regards to commonhouse and grounds?

5) Is crush and run an acceptable common grounds surface, will the banks or 
   FHA accept it, any experience?

Hope this gets out there, Thanks,
Diane Burgoon
dburgoon [at] fs1dgadrv.er.usgs.gov