Cohousing-L Mailing List: Talking to the neighbors about CoHo

[John Major (jmajor]

Hi -

We are just now going through the CoHo-standard step of talking to the
neighbors, assuring them that we don't bite, that their land values won't go
down, and so forth. I have a few questions that I need anecdotes and answers
for from the rest of you - please reply as soon as you can, we have a public
appearance in two days that we need to be prepared for, and statements from
people now living in CoHo are tremendously persuasive. I need real-life
stories to reassure folks that are understandably nervous about something new
and different. So, here goes:

1) Was your development going into what was considered a "higher-crime" area?
How has this situation/perception changed since you moved in? We've all talked
about how the many eyes of a *real* community increase the sense and reality
of security, and we are going in on a urban wooded area (the last open
farmland in Salt Lake City - sigh...) that will stop being a hang-out for
undesirables once we are there. But at least one neighbor thinks our
development will make things *worse* - she is concerned that:
- Our clustered parking will become a target for nasty people, what with all
those cars not in garages 'n' all, and that these nasties will then go on to
mess up the rest of the neighborhood even more than they do now.
-Folks won't watch out for other folks' stuff as well as they do their own, so
for example the cars must be in garages. 

Admittedly, she listens to her police scanner a lot and strikes me as pretty
paranoid, but I want to have real answers for people with the same concerns.

2) Did your community face concerns about traffic? We are several blocks over
from a busy street (and they make 'em WIDE in SLC - something about turning
wagons around   ;->    ) which we will be turning off of, to get to our two
entrances. Do any of you have stories about how the traffic from CoHo
developments was *less* than anticipated, or how it compares to equivalent
StandardSuburb developments?

3) And of course, land values - although the concern that we would drive down
real estate $$ in the area is a bit laughable to us, considering the crazy
upward zoom of real estate in SLC, and the amount of money we're actually
spending on our units (another collective sigh...). It would be great to have
a few anecdotes about how the resale value of your CoHo neighbors went up
*faster* than equivalent homes nearby.

Thanks for your ear - bring on those tales of tribulation and triumph - I
think it is the shared stories that bind this larger community of CoHopis
together - and wish us luck - this is one of the big steps in the process, I
understand!

Thanks -

John Major
Wasatch CoHousing
Salt Lake City, Utah
jmajor [at] dayna.com
wk: 801/269-7346
hm: 801/487-3148