Cohousing-L Mailing List: NIMBY opposition & Sycamore Village, Orangevale

[Sabrina McKinney (sabrina]

Hello,  

I just joined this listserve.  I¹m a member of Sycamore Village, the
community trying to get approval in Orangevale, CA.  We are encountering
extreme difficulty with opposing neighbors.  Big NIMBY factor.  Most agree
it¹s a great idea, just not there next to them.  The neighbors are very
organized and have created a campaign of fear tactics and lies.  Many think
cohousing is another word for condos and a big developer¹s cash cow.  The
neighbors on the south-end (the most hostile) are concerned about people
looking into their backyards while they¹re in their hot tub, etc.  We moved
the driveway and parking to that border for them.  Now they¹re concerned
about car noise and the like.  They¹re used to having a beautiful 3.5 acres
of trees border their backyard.  They know something will be built and are
asking the county to not upzone the lot to RD10 for us, but keep it at RD4
(for a total of 14 houses there).  I grew up in this town and even 20 years
ago it was still ³suburban.²  It¹s a far cry from rural.  But you just can¹t
change a person¹s land identity.

As was stated: 
>It has a very suburban feel. The property in question is 1/2 a
block from a major thouroughfare, directly behind a large concrete fitness
center. It is within an area identified by the county as a transportation
corridor. The county is looking for demonstration sites to upzone as much
as 15 homes per acre in order to boost the transportation system. (Mass
transit requires mass...)

I hope that some here could please send me or the listserve any stories or
statistics that support us against this opposition.  Also, any ideas you may
have to help smooth things over.  The main woman running the ring has agreed
to go to a common meal at another coho community.  We have plans for an
initial meeting with a pr firm that specializes in neighbors and new
developments.  


We need, in particular, stories about neighborhood opposition before move-in
and how that was assuaged:

1.  Regarding traffic, density, visual disturbance, loss of ³rural²
character, privacy.
2.  Any traffic statistics about coho communities.
3.  Any statistics or anecdotal evidence of surrounding housing prices
(rising, falling, etc).


If you want to read the article in the local paper about it, go to
www.orangevalecohousing.org.  There¹s a pdf there.  You don¹t need to go
through all the trouble of registering with the sacbee.com website that way
(though you can view readers¹ comments on the sacbee site).

Thank you so much!
Sabrina McKinney