Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Subject: Designing gathering spaces

[Jerry McIntire (jerry.mcintire]

Nessa,

Congratulations to you and everyone at Belfast on your imminent move-in! I
hope to visit you in June because of your similarities to our situation:
small town ecovillage with a commitment to affordable housing.

Regarding common and private spaces outside the homes, I think deciding
ahead of time how much yard an owner will be able to use privately would be
an important decision to make before move-in. In fact, it is such an
integral part of the value of a home, I can't imagine arriving at a price
without having that space defined.

As Sharon has pointed out, access for other members passing by, for
lawnmowers, etc. all need to be considered.

I would have thought that gathering places too would have been designed as
part of site planning, before any construction began. Of course, these are
my *assumptions*.

Since you have people moving in over the course of a year or more, I would
think that deciding now, before a minority start making de facto decisions
because they're living on site first, is important.

All the best, Jerry