Cohousing-L Mailing List: Density

[Chris Blaisdell (Chris_Blaisdell]

Greetings! My name is Chris and I'm new to this forum.  Iam a member of the
Cumberland County Cohousing Community.  We have a 94 acre piece of land in
Brunswick, Maine under contract and are currently working on our village
design with our landscape architect in preparation for submittal to the town
planning board for final approval, hopefully in Nov.  We are planning a
community of approx. 26-28 households, about 8 duplexes and 10-12 single
family houses.

We have had some "heated discussions" over a variety of issues (parking -
lots or at houses; distance between houses etc.) The common theme among them
all is : Can you engineer "community" through village design?  Are very dense
communities, such as Winslow, WA, likely to have greater socal interaction
and participation in community activities and use of the common house than a
more spread out community such as Sharingwood or Pioneer Valley?  Is a
community that physically tends towards a traditional subdivision any less a
cohousing community than a community that is more like a condo/apartment
complex?  We are looking at a distance between houses of about 30-50 feet but
some members feel this may be a detriment to building community.  I would
appreciate any input - Thanks!Greetings! My name is Chris and I'm new to this
forum.  Iam a member of the Cumberland County Cohousing Community.  We have a
94 acre piece of land in Brunswick, Maine under contract and are currently
working on our village design with our landscape architect in preparation for
submittal to the town planning board for final approval, hopefully in Nov. 
We are planning a comunity of approx. 26-28 households, about 8 duplexes and
10-12 single family houses.

We have had some "heated discussions" over a variety of issues (parking -
lots or at houses; distance between houses etc.) The common theme among them
all is : Can you engineer "community" through village design?  Are very dense
communities, such as Winslow, WA, likely to have greater socal interaction
and participation in community activities and use of the common house than a
more spread out community such as Sharingwood or Pioneer Valley?  Is a
community that physically tends towards a traditional subdivision any less a
cohousing community than a community that is more like a condo/apartment
complex?  We are looking at a distance between houses of about 30-50 feet but
some members feel this may be a detriment to building community.  I would
appreciate any input - Thanks!