Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Required handicap access to 2nd floor/elevator

[Ann Zabaldo (ann.zabaldo]

Hello Mary --

I hear that you want to control costs.  Don't we ALL?  It IS expensive
to put in an elevator.  And it probably doesn't seem relevant right
now.  There are other possibilities including chair lifts and MANY
types of elevators.  You don't need the fanciest.  As a developer of
cohousing communities I KNOW the costs involved in bringing a
community from a dream to reality.  I hear that you are struggling to
make the "right" decisions.  And you're seeking input.

Nubanusit declares itself as a green community.  And yet, NOT
including an elevator or an elevator shaft is not sustainable over
time.

Over time many things may happen in your community.  One of them
regardless of what you do is that your community will age.  Plus your
use of the CH rooms will change.  Guest rooms, multipurpose rooms and
basements may become something else w/ different uses.  After seven
years here at Takoma Village in Washington, DC we're certainly finding
that our needs are changing and we're looking at how to make the most
effective use of our CH rooms.  How will your community members make
use of the basement and 2nd floor when they find themselves w/ a
disability?  Also, since you have public rooms on all floors your
elevator may be used by people w/ strollers, laundry hampers, carts of
all sorts, etc.

Let me also reflect back to you what I interpret when I read queries
like this -- which we have had several times on this list.

As a wheel chair user I would not be welcome in your community either
as a guest or as a homeowner.  While you may make every effort to have
me feel comfortable and may go to great lengths to assist me what I
really want and NEED is independence.  I can take of myself I just
require the tools to do it.

And a legitimate question might be:  but why should we be saddled w/
the expense of providing these "tools?"

Even if you are filled at this time you will undoubtedly have resales
in the future.  You will be limiting your market as the general
population is aging away -- not to mention limiting it now to able
bodied people.  And ... you are only "temporarily able bodied" anyway.
 As a person who used to ride a bike 100 miles a day, backpack 10-15
miles a day, fly- fished everything from streamlets to the Rogue
River, X-country skied-- oh I don't know how many miles and walked
seven miles a day to work and back EVERY DAY ... my able body lasted
38 years.  I'm now 58 w/ a good many more years ahead of me.
Discounting death -- the ultimate disability!  :-)

In your Core Values statement on your website you say under the
heading of RESPECT that you "...work for the common good."   The
"common good" will change w/ the passing years.  (Side note:  what's
interesting to me is in the conversation about "common good"  is that
people forget that "community" exists for the support of the
individual.  There is no common good w/out the individual.)  I also
note that  you say that "We embrace cultural, political, religious and
spiritual diversity."  But not all diversity.  Physical diversity is
not one of your core values.  What will happen when one of your
members becomes disabled?  Will this person have to "make do" or
leave?

I believe that EVERY cohousing group has the very best of intentions
and desires to do the right thing by everyone.  We are "good" people
and good neighbors.  And we're still in the pioneering stage of this
grand experiment so I recognize how confusing it still is to figure
out how to make all this "stuff" happen and do so in a way that works
and doesn't price everyone out of the final product.  It's a LOT!

Do you have a wheel chair user in your group?  If you don't ... and
even if you do ... I recommend spending a week in a wheel chair --
it's VERY educational.  And at the end of the week when you get out of
the wheel chair you may have a glimpse of the challenges of living
life sitting down.  You may find your views very much changed.

I hope you will consider carefully the short and long term
consequences of not making your community accessible.  It's a lot
easier now than later.

Best to you as you ponder this issue --

Ann Zabaldo
Voice 202-291-7892
Fax 202-291-8594
Takoma Village Cohousing
Washington, DC
Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC
McLean, VA



On Thu, May 8, 2008 at 6:34 AM,  <maryvk [at] tellink.net> wrote:
>
>  Greetings
>
>  We are working hard to control costs on our Common House for our new 
> community so we can have what we want but be able to build it this spring.
>  Our design has our bedrooms on the second floor along with a multipurpose 
> room.  Basement has laundry and storage only.  First floor has a handicap 
> bathroom.
>
>  We'd like not to put in an elevator or even the shaft for future use.  Must 
> we do this?  Are Common Houses typically treated like one's private home or a 
> public building with required handicap features?  Thoughts and lessons 
> learned?
>
>  Your prompt reply is appreciated and thank you for your help.
>
>  Mary Kaplan
>  Nubanusit Farm and Neighborhood
>  Peterborough NH
>  _________________________________________________________________
>  Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
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>
>
>



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