Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: private vs public space

[Lynn Nadeau (welcome]

Julie Mazo asks questions about who has control of what happens on the 
land, where.  

I think it is human nature to want at least a token place outdoors to 
personalize. At RoseWind Cohousing, each home has a lot, and the land use 
on one's own lot is whatever you want. I would think most communities 
have some "private" space, but it sounds like the post-er is somewhere 
condo-like with no private space. If that's the case, your group might 
want to consider officially declaring a certain amount of space near each 
home to be -- even if commonly owned -- privately controlled. In that 
case, a person could choose whether to enclose or border it, or leave it 
public in appearance. This serves the dual purpose of also defining what 
IS commons, and not to be used in certain ways by individual residents. 

Our commons areas are divided between the main commons (a central field) 
and what we call "local commons" which are areas where the residents 
whose homes border that area have some autonomy in jointly deciding what 
to plant or do there. Local-commons areas are totally open to anyone's 
use, but are planted and maintained by those who live nearest them. So 
far this has worked quite well. The usual result is that some resident 
who loves to garden beautifies a piece of land by their lot and we all 
enjoy the enhancement. Or two neighbors chat while jointly tending 
"their" flower bed. 

Lynn Nadeau
RoseWind Cohousing
Port Townsend WA - cherry blossoms, daffodils, and crocus
Our two Habitat houses are scheduled to break ground in the coming month, 
at the same time as our Common House opens for use-- exciting! 
The CH was a beehive of activity this weekend, with members painting, 
sanding, and scrubbing stickers and gunk off all the windows. One of our 
bathrooms has sprouted a mural entitled "The Secret Life of Birds" with 
very entertaining and colorful cartoon-like birds doing all sorts of 
things. 
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