Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Common house permitting and Cities...

[Laura Fitch (lfitch]

Yes, 13 is a small enough community that you are going to be much harder 
pressed to do things that even larger groups struggle with.  Obviously a 
commercial elevator is out of the question.  I wonder with such a small 
group if the local inspector / code would allow for a residential elevator 
now or in the future.  You could design a location (such as a closet) that 
could be converted as folks age or otherwise become less mobil.

Good luck,

Laura

Laura E. Fitch, AIA, LEED
Kraus-Fitch Architects, Inc.
110 Pulpit Hill Rd.
Amherst, MA  01002

413-549-5799
lfitch [at] krausfitch.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lyle Scheer" <wonko [at] monkeyhouse.org>
To: "Cohousing-L" <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 4:44 PM
Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Common house permitting and Cities...


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> Laura Fitch wrote:
> > Lyle,
> >
> > How many units are you planning for?
>
> It's a 13 unit development.  Does that make a difference for us?  We had
> already planned a handicapped bathroom and ramp access on the main
> floor, but there is no shower in that bathroom and the City is
> indicating that if there is a shower, at least one must be ADA (even
> though it's on the second floor)  We joked about putting in an outdoor
> shower with a rail and bench on the wall in our building committee.
>
> Your comments on the kitchen are very helpful.
>
> > The Massachusetts Access Board has ruled that we did not have to make
> > basement and second floor space accessible IF its use was limited to
> > residents only (and all the units were for sale, not rent).  Once you 
> > start
> > locating recreation rooms and other spaces that will draw friends in, 
> > then
> > the definition of "residents only" gets blurry.
>
> Good to know.  Our kids room is on the 1st floor.  We've got 2 rooms and
> a bathroom upstairs, with no set designation, though we hope to use
> those as a guest room and a multi-purpose (empty) room.
>
> - - Lyle
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