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

[Casey Morrigan (cjmorr]

We have never done that in our common space - allowed it to be available on
a daily basis for someone's business.

I wonder what it would have been like when we had toddlers to share the play
space with a commercial enterprise - or if we even could have managed that?

What we have done is allowed business meetings for people's private,
home-based businesses to be occasionally held in the Common House. Two of
our members started up a nearby co-housing organization in that way. I
sometimes meet with my consulting business clients or coworkers in the
Common House rather than meet in my home. But that has been the extent of it
so far. 

Casey M.
Two Acre Wood
Sebastopol, Northern California

-----Original Message-----
From: S Fassnacht [mailto:fassnach [at] ssc.wisc.edu] 
Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 9:21 AM
To: Cohousing-L
Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Owner-business use of common space

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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>
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