Cohousing-L Mailing List: offices in common houses

[Rachael Shapiro (rachael]

Hi-This is an issue that is near and dear to my heart!  I am a 
psychotherapist who owns an office in Ecovillage-Ithaca, in the office 
wing of the common house in the first neighborhood. It has been going 
splendidly. No problems.I now live in the 2nd neighborhood and we are 
in the design phase of our common house. I was not expecting this to be 
such a big issue, but it is. People had the similar  opposing 
viewpoints as has been discussed in the various emails.
	The big issue for us was whether to have home businesses in an office 
wing of the Common House.  One way that the community has  dealt with 
this was for the offices to be owned by the community, not by 
individuals, with one goal being to help get new businesses started and 
launched and then they would possibly grow and move on. There is an 
expectation that the offices would be rented for up to 3 years. This is 
tricky for me because I am not a new business and I do not plan to grow 
any bigger than my current, full time practice.  Some people were 
uncomfortable with the Common House being used for private enterprise 
at all. How are most of the private business office spaces financed? Do 
individuals own their office or do they rent the space?
	I could possibly stay where I am but there could be a problem if a 
waiting list for offices develops in the  first neighborhood. It has 
been so great to live and work in the community. I have a 45 second 
commute. I bring my puppy into sessions with me and can take him home 
in between sessions. And all the obvious advantages of coming home for 
lunch, seeing neighbors, walking with clients on the land,etc.
	I also believe that it has been incredibly healing for my clients to 
come here and I encourage them to walk on the trails (that go around 
and not through the neighborhood). I see the land here as being 
something I want to share with others and not something that is 
exclusively for those living here. Many different perspectives around 
this. I have never found my clients to ever be a threat to any of the 
neighbors. More difficult has been the envy that my clients, esp the 
children, express in wishing to live here.
	I still find that there are some folks who fear "strangers" which is 
sometimes a results of bad experiences they have had in the past. There 
are those who embrace cohousing  in a way that encourages education 
(tours, media,college classes on site,etc) and those who want a nice 
neighborhood to live in without too many "intrusions" from outside 
sources. I should note that this was a small but vocal group. I guess 
it is this diversity that makes cohousing what it is!
	We are working on a great design for our common house that could prove 
to be too expensive to build. The main shared community space for the 
common house will be on one floor with the offices (3) and guest rooms 
(2) on the second floor which has a separate entrance. There would be 
no actual internal connection between the floors which avoids the need 
for an elevator  and is a way of keeping the first floor more dedicated 
for people who have multiple chemical sensitivities.
	It is great reading about issues/conflicts/challenges that other 
communities share!  Rachael