Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: starting up - what to do first?

[Catya Belfer-Shevett (catya]

> We've started a cohousing group in NJ, (our second meeting is
> tomorrow) and I'm trying to figure out what we should be doing
> now, and what we should be waiting to do until after we reach
> some sort of critical mass, so I thought I'd ask how each of your started.

Yay Abby!

> Does it make sense to create mission/vision statements at this point?
> Does it make sense to go to county planning meetings and talk to
> the planners about cohousing when we don't even know what county
> we're interested in, or how long it will be until we have enough
> serious interest to decide?

We started with creating our vision statement, and then deciding how we were
going to make decisions, and then picking a name.  We weren't ready to look
for land for a little while, but with the right group ($$ and commitment)
you could certainly start earlier.

In terms of land search, I think the most important thing is first to
establish a rough search area, then to go look at zoning codes and figure
out which towns in that area are going to let you do clustered development.
You could certainly talk to town/county planners, but that's a tricky
political road as well.

Best of luck with it and keep in touch,

        - catya
                              ____
Catya Belfer-Shevett      ____\  /      Interested in
catya [at] pobox.com           \  / \/      Cohousing in MA?
www.catya.org              \/       www.mosaic-commons.org

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