Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Membership requirements / # of adults in household

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On 4/09/2003 7:20 AM, "Fillard Rhyne" <fillard [at] hevanet.com> wrote:

> My reason for asking is, I imagine, quite run-of-the-mill:
> I'm part of a group that's currently deciding how each prospective
> household will qualify for membership, and we're thinking about how
> to address the fact that different households have varying numbers
> of adults. It's already been decided (more or less) that each adult
> in the community will have one vote.
> 
> Note that it wouldn't really be of any use to know that "90% of
> cohousing groups do it such-and-such a way." What I'm really
> interested in is how these issues have been successfully resolved
> in those particular communities where people on two different
> "sides" of the issue have felt strongly about it.

One way we and others have resolved the issue of who votes, is to make two
"classes" of decisions. Class 1 decisions are essentially decisions that
require homeowners to pay more money or affect property values. Each unit
has one vote on those issues.

Class 2 decisions are all other community decisions and each member has a
vote. Anyone who is over 16 or 18 (I forget which) and lives in the
community can become a member.

We have never had a vote but we do have quorum requirements based on the
number of eligible voices on any issue.

Resolving a conflicting views is best done by defining what people are
concerned about. "What do you think will happen if your solution is not
adopted?" The fears of what might happen are usually what needs to be
addresses, not whether one "side" is "right" or not. Go right to the fear.

Sharon
-- 
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org

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