Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Owner-business use of common space

[S Fassnacht (fassnach]

Thanks for all your responses so far.  You have brought up some very  
useful points.
One further point of clarification:  It is mostly outdoor common  
space that will be affected.  Except for outdoor playtime and one or  
two days a month usage of the common house (2-3 hrs), the daycare  
will be run out of the prospective member's home.

On Dec 8, 2006, at 10:14 AM, tamgoddess [at] comcast.net wrote:

> If you have non-profit status, that is legally endangered when you  
> have a for-profit business in your commonhouse. Even taking in  
> money for meals is considered profit. I think allowing the kinds of  
> commercial uses people have been talking about is worrisome and you  
> should definitely have a lawyer look into it. I'm assuming laws in  
> different states vary.
>
> Completely apart from that, I don't think fencing off parts of  
> common land and having a daily business run out of the common house  
> is a good idea. It changes how people feel about the space. I  
> wouldn't even want a room in the CH set aside for someone's private  
> use.
>
> We had a fence once and ended up taking it down. It was  
> theoretically for the children's safety, but they could get around  
> it, and we hated it. Taking it out was a pain in the ass. I'd think  
> long and hard about that sort of thing before I'd agree to it.
>
> Liz
>  -------------- Original message ----------------------
> From: "Robert Heinich" <robert [at] enocommons.org>
> > Here at Eno Commons, we have a member who renting a room in the  
> > Common House.
> > The room has a door with a lock.  So why the room is exclusive,  
> > the use of that
> > room does not prevent use of the other areas of the Common House.   
> > We use this
> > income stream to pay for improvements to the Common House  
> > upstairs.  The member
> > create a proposal detailing some of the parameters, the community  
> > approved it
> > and day-to-day details is handled by the Common House committee.   
> > I believe
> > everyone is happy with the arrangement.
> >
> > We did have friction when another member held workshops which  
> > required the
> > exclusive use of the entire Common House on the weekends.  The  
> > reason for the
> > friction was the time of exclusive use of the Common House would  
> > be when others
> > would likely use it and the community derived no income/benefit  
> > from this
> > restriction.  A Common House Usage proposal should be on our Jan  
> > 2007 business
> > meeting agenda.
> >
> > Your prospective member should outline what his expectations are  
> > and what
> > benefits the community could expect from this use.  If your group  
> > feel the
> > benefits are worth the restrictions, you can work on a deal.  I  
> > also recommend
> > an expiration date on the agreement.
> >
> > I hope this helps.
> >
> > -Robert Heinich
> >  Eno Commons Cohousing
> >  Durham, NC
> >  where folks are practicing for our annual No Talent Show
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "S Fassnacht" <fassnach [at] ssc.wisc.edu>
> > To: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> > Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 9:54 AM
> > Subject: [C-L]_ Owner-business use of common space
> >
> >
> > > One of our prospective new members currently has a business that  
> > > they
> > > would bring with them to the community were they to move in.  This
> > > business would require use of a large percentage of our outdoor
> > > common space for up to 3 hours a day during business hours.  The
> > > business would also require installing a 4-foot fence to enclose  
> > > that
> > > space.
> > >
> > > We are wondering if other communities have had experience with home
> > > businesses that use common elements, and if so, how it all worked  
> > > out.
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > > Stephanie
> > > Village Cohousing, Madison WI
> > > _________________________________________________________________
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