Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: site size, and number of units

[Mabel Liang (mabel]

In Cornerstone Village Cohousing, North Cambridge, MA, we will have 32
units in 4 buildings, on something like 1.25 acres.  One building has 10
apartments and 5 attached townhouses.  Then there are 2 buildings with 2
townhouses each.  Finally, the fourth building has 13 apartments plus our
common house.

Our number of units was a tug of war involving many factors.  Ones I can
think of are 
1) economics (making units "affordable" when your land costs 1.5 million
dollars) 
2) wanting some green space
3) having litigious neighbors who wanted fewer units and who wanted us to
build surface rather than under-the-building parking because of fears of
flooding
4) being next to a bike path and kitty corner from a playing field, which
provides green space that isn't part of our property

When we started our project, the zoning would have allowed over 40 units.
When an ordinance requiring us to build affordable housing units and fund
them out of our own pockets was passed, we were given density bonuses that
could of allowed us to build well over 50 - I don't remember the exact
number.  However, we had already designed our project, so we didn't take
advantage of the bonus, except as an advantage in the timing of when
various buildings are being built.  (Although the plans did get
substantially revised later, changing the number of units would have
involved a whole new permit - a legal mess that we didn't want to get into.
 If you want more gory details on any of this, feel free to ask.)

There is also an subsurface easement that belongs to the MBTA (mass transit
folks) for the subway line that runs underneath the linear park (bike
path).  We aren't allowed to build any permanent structures on that portion
of our land.  So getting even the 32 units on the land while keeping a
configuration that provided green space was a struggle.

                                                                -- Mabel :-)

mabel [at] twomeeps.com
Mabel Liang
Cornerstone Village Cohousing
http://www.cscoho.org
2 units left!

At 10:41 AM 11/29/01 -0600, Stephanie Weigel wrote:
>Hi,
>I have done some searches on the archives about this, but am hoping to get
>more info from communities on site sizes, and configuration of units.  For
>example, I would be interested in knowing that your community has:
>
>X [number] of [attached/detached] units on an X [acres] site.
>
>And whether there are other uses on the site, or adjacent land uses, that
>may have influenced the decision for your ultimate density decisions.
>
>For example;
>"we have 22 attached units (in 3 buildings) on a 5 acre site, but 2 of the
>acres are protected wetland and weren't developed"
>
>or other configurations.
>
>thanks!
>Stephanie Weigel
>sjweigel [at] students.wisc.edu
>
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Mabel Liang
mabel [at] twomeeps.com
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