Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Garages

[Joani Blank (jeblank]

I say have as few garages as possible (although certainly they should be
availablet for the elderly and folks with disabilities). I predict that down
the road we will find that those in cohousing who can get into their houses
directly from their cars without traversing common space will do just that
and eventually will be the most likely to pull away from shared activities. 

Yes, I know about the weather there. I grew up in Boston and as much as I
hate getting all bundled up to go out into the winter misery, shoveling snow
and all the rest, I'd want to do it if I lived at Commonweal. I'd have to
trudge through the ice and snow to go to the commonhouse for dinner, so I'll
get to my car that way too, thank you. And for the same reason. Contact with
neighbors, even just a quick "hi, how're you doing" is the reason I live in
cohousing. These ordinary daily interactions with my neighbors are much
"smaller" than, say, common meals, but IMHO are an important ingredient in
the glue that keeps us feeling like a community. 

You may have a hard time convincing your developer to build a parking lot or
two (with or without carports) instead of individual garages. Most
developers are unsure about cohousing and they don't want to take a chance
that they might end up with what they believe is unsaleable housing, if your
cohousing group should disintegrate. However, this is only one of several
probems you may have with developers--an understandably conservative bunch.
They have a lot of money invested in your future home and they may balk at a
good number of features of your development that you consider absolute
necessities. 

Joani Blank