Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Smoking Policies

[bonnie Fergusson (fergyb2]

      At Swans Market Cohousing we have a policy of no smoking allowed in any 
of our common areas which includes the common house, the walkway that all our 
front doors face, the garage and the garden ( several peoples balconies and 
windows face the garden).  None of our owners smoke but everyone occasionally 
has relatives or guests who come to stay for varying periods of time who smoke 
and they have to exit the community entirely to get to an external courtyard 
where they can smoke.  We currently have a student from Saudi Arabia staying 
with us who smokes and we joke about his need to "take a short walk" which is 
code for go smoke a cigarette.  We also had to train him not to just drop his 
cigarette butts on the ground out there.
        I don't think it's legally possible to forbid smoking in peoples own 
homes but it's both possible and desirable to prohibit smoking in all the 
common areas where second hand smoke could affect the health of others who have 
not chosen to take on that health risk.  The down side of this policy is it 
somewhat limits the pool of potential people who will buy into your community, 
but as smoking becomes increasingly unpopular and uncommon this becomes less 
and less of a meaningful issue.  
                         Bonnie Fergusson
                        Swans Market Cohousing
                        Oakland, CA

Sent from my iPad

On Nov 21, 2011, at 5:58 AM, "Sheila Hoffman" <sheila [at] hoffmangraphics.com> 
wrote:

> 
> Great discussion about Values/Mission/Aims. As a young forming group (less
> than 2 years old) we've done a few facilitated workshops including setting
> our Vision & Values:
> http://capitolhillurbancohousing.org/content/our-vision-values. We're in the
> process of setting up some policies. Since we're still small (about 5 of 10
> households) and none of us smoke we're considering making a NO Smoking
> Policy. I searched the archives and found mostly very old posts and they all
> seemed to allow some smoking. I'm wondering if anyone has a complete No
> Smoking Policy. Examples would be appreciated. I've drafted this one,
> greatly revised, based on the one I found from Mosaic Gardens posted in Feb
> '09.
> 
> In keeping with our stated value for Healthy Individuals, CHUC intends to be
> a non-smoking environment. With this in mind, smoking is not allowed in any
> indoor or outdoor common areas, such as the Common House, rooftop gardens,
> or atrium under any circumstances. All residents may smoke or permit smoking
> inside their private unit and on private balconies, but are expected to
> cooperatively respond to neighbors' concerns should they arise.
> 
> Thank you for your thoughts.
> Sheila in Seattle
> 
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