Cohousing-L Mailing List: Fences

[Caren Albercook (calbercook]

Speaking as the token introvert in my community, I
think fences make for good neighbors.  

Before you move in, most members hunger for the
neighborliness of cohousing but once they move in
there is an adjustment period as people learn to 'live
in each other's armpits.'  I think I represent a
subgroup of cohousers, (maybe not) that need private
space and don't want to be in house arrest to get it.
Ensuring adequate private space balances the public
community dynamics.

When we moved in, this was a hotly contested topic. 
We were early in the process and didn't trust each
other as much as we do now and thought that every
issue was critical to our personal well being.  With
great enmity, several people built fences-mostly for
containing dogs and this has turned out to not be a
problem at all.  Open mesh fencing was used, so as not
to obscure the view.  

Interestingly enough, since then there have been
several back yard developments that created 'private
spaces' for those whose backyards and front yards are
in public view.  (We are built on a hill and the fire
access road wraps closely around a quarter of the
units.) 

Caren

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