Cohousing-L Mailing List: example of consensus success

[audrey (audrey]

I think one of the best examples for Winslow was when we moved an acre of woods 
on our property into land trust.  (we have 5 acres total, the rest is homes, 
parking lot, playfield, garden...)  For some people it was an instant go for it 
(who wouldn't want permanent protection for our gorgeous cedars, firs, maples) 
with a tax break,  for others, it was unclear, as this was zoned business, and 
what if we wanted to build a  building for our own use, maybe a meditation 
structure, or a small place for offices for ourselves, and who knows what we 
might want to do with that land 20 years from now, and would it raise or lower 
the value of our homes?   we went thru a several month long process of 
education, pros and cons, postings of pictures, maps, discussions with the land 
trust group (a local non-profit) on what the ramifications were.  Individuals 
were talked to one on one, til everyone in the community was totally educated 
and clear on what was happening, and felt comfortable with what was happening. 
(there were some very negative/fearful opinions to start).   Although it was 
slow, I think it was a true consensus decision in the end when it passed.   I 
think what came out of it for the community was a  careful crafting of the 
wording of the land trust agreement of who stewarded what and what we were 
allowed and required to do with the property. 
--audrey 
Winslow Cohousing
On Sep 26, 2011, at 4:22 AM, cohousing-l-request [at] cohousing.org wrote:

> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2011 07:46:02 -0400
> From: R Philip Dowds <rpdowds [at] comcast.net>
> Subject: [C-L]_ Examples of Consensus Success (Was:[C-L] ? Survey of
>       Cohousing ...
> To: Cohousing-L Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> Message-ID: <0B771683-A561-4CF0-B64B-7FC56A4E23CB [at] comcast.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain;     charset=windows-1252
> 
> CONSENSUS IS BETTER?  OH YEAH?  GOT EXAMPLES?
> 
> I hear this a lot ? that consensus, time-consuming though it may be ? will 
> deliver a higher quality result.  Do I believe it?
> 
> Depends, of course, on how you define "higher quality".  If you mean, a 
> greater number of people seemingly happy with the outcome, I certainly agree. 
>  But if you mean, a solution that's substantively "better" based on objective 
> external criteria, then this might prove to be more elusive.  I think of all 
> the zoning controversies I've struggled with in Cambridge ? where zoning 
> changes cannot happen without a reinforced majority of six out of nine 
> councilors, and in the end, are often (but not always) passed unanimously 
> (Wowee! Consensus!) ? and what often comes out of this excruciatingly painful 
> birthing process is something that is linguistically opaque, substantively 
> self-contradictory, and a pale shadow of its originating intent.
> 
> But wait!  I still believe it!  I just need more concrete, real world 
> examples of how consensus produces better results, really.  I will give one 
> of my own, direct out of my Cornerstone Cohousing experience:
> 
>      When I first moved in to Cornerstone, I joined a volunteer committee 
> trying to put together a repair / replacement reserve funding plan.  The big 
> and seemingly unbreachable divide was between those who wanted collect and 
> save money annually to pay for future repairs and maintenance, versus those 
> who wanted solve the problem in the moment, by special assessments for 
> manifest needs and failures.  In other words: Collect and set aside money now 
> for the day when the boiler blows and the roof leaks?  Or, pay for urgent 
> repairs at the time they occur, via special assessments?
>      And so:  We were looking at complex forecasting models that tried to 
> save up money for 8 years into the future, when hot water tanks might fail, 
> or 35 years in the future, when all the siding or windows would need 
> replacement.  The folks who wanted to save for the future and the folks who 
> wanted to pay in moment were deeply divided.  We wrestled with this for many 
> months, getting nowhere.
>      And then:  One of our volunteers came up with the idea of Hey!, Let's 
> not try to look 35 years into the future.  Let's instead make a plan with a 
> "rolling window" of five years into the future, and base our reserve 
> assessments on that ? and, of course, update our plan every five years.   I 
> was initially skeptical, but when I set up the model and ran the numbers, it 
> made a lot of sense.  In more ways than just financial.  So this is what we 
> proposed, and this is what the community adopted.  By consensus.  First try!  
> I was surprised and delighted by a good solution that I would not have 
> arrived at on my own.
> 
> HERE'S WHAT I NEED FROM YOU:  For all of you out there ... Can you post a 
> specific example of how your consensus process eventually provided a better, 
> and even surprisingly better, solution?  If we want to promote consensus, we 
> have to make it real.  Thanks.
> 
> R Philip Dowds AIA
> Cornerstone Cohousing
> 175 Harvey Street, Unit 5
> Cambridge, MA 02140
> 617.354.6094