Cohousing-L Mailing List: Common House events, fees, policies

[Lynn Nadeau (welcome]

I got an inquiry from another group about this, and thought I'd send it 
to the list too, to add to the archives. 
Lynn Nadeau
(who just had a fabulous Personal Social in our CH yesterday: a Croning 
Ceremony on the occasion of my 60th birthday!)


RoseWind Cohousing, Port Townsend Washington
Common House use policies, fees, etc. 

Besides RW community gatherings, like regularly-scheduled meals, and 
special social or educational events, or meetings, a member can use the 
CH for: 

Personal Socials: Example would be a birthday party,  a potluck for the 
chorus  you sing with
Sponsored Events: (the majority of non-RW uses)
Examples- meeting of an organization or group you are part of (Green 
Party, Audubon, Bicycling Club, Women's Circle)
Also events which you are associated with (sponsor) such as a talk by a 
visiting workshop leader, a house concert, a slide show. 
We do not rent out to the general public: every event has a RW member 
sponsor who is responsible for being present from set up through clean 
up, for seeing the house rules are followed (shoes off, no alcohol to 
minors, or left behind in the CH, no incense, etc.), and for getting it 
on the calendar, signing a one-page contract of responsibility and info 
about how many, what, when, kitchen use or not, and for paying the fee. 

Fee:
For RW events: no fee. 
Personal Social: $10. (I encourage a larger donation for really large 
events.)
Sponsored Events: $1 per person, $10 minimum. 

We are still trying to get clear about "house concerts" - we have had 
some large events (60-80 people) to hear musicians perform, but there has 
been a lot of confusion about insurance. At one point we were told that 
any such event, if the insurance company heard about it, would invalidate 
ALL our insurance. Now we've been told (same company) that it's not a 
problem. 

Then there is the internal dialogue about use of the CH as a public 
amenity, ranging from "Why would we invite hordes of strangers to tromple 
through and dirty our bathrooms, compromise our privacy, etc?" to 
"Everyone in town should have access to it - it's selfish not to share it 
with anyone and everyone." Most opinion is in between: Yes, we have had 
some wonderful events, and it's a delight to have them right here and to 
offer this beautiful space to the community in such a way. AND we don't 
want an infinite number of them, need to pay attention to parking, noise, 
safe exit routes among lines of chairs, and so on. We're still evolving 
this. 

I think our insurer is called CAU - it seemed to the THE one for a 
Homeowners' Association. We'd be glad to learn of others. 

You asked about a "fee based class" for residents, like yoga: we only 
have one, yoga in fact. They give the teacher $5 each, I believe, and 
don't pay RW, as it's all members. (Furthermore it's a weekday morning 
when nothing else is ever scheduled.)

Guest rooms is another question, but not relevant here, as we don't have 
overnight space in the CH. We have enough space, between us, in our 
homes, for guests, and a guest room in the CH had to be trimmed from the 
budget. 

Hope this is helpful to someone someday. Feel free to email me off-list, 
if you have any specific follow up questions. 

Lynn Nadeau, RoseWind Cohousing
Port Townsend Washington (Victorian seaport, music, art, nature)
http://www.rosewind.org
http://www.ptguide.com
http://www.ptforpeace.info (very active peace movement here- see our 
photo)