Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Reducing parking spaces

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Jun 20, 2013, at 3:07 PM, Holly Wilder <hollywilder23 [at] gmail.com> wrote:

> Some of those spaces are reserved carport spots, and a few units have 
> garages, but most are unreserved spots in the lot.  As children have grown 
> into teens who drive, and more owners are renting out parts of their homes to 
> make mortgage payments, there are a lot of cars here.

One of the smartest decisions we made before move-in was to have assigned 
parking spaces. The spots are numbered, some are compact and some full-sized. 
Initially people requested specific spots. Most didn't care.

Since move-in, when someone needs a different spot for whatever reason, they 
trade with someone else. 

Having an assigned spot means when you come home late at night, you can park 
and go inside expeditiously. You know you have a spot so you aren't anxious 
about it.  We have a gate so offsite cars won't be parked in the lot. There are 
no suspicions raised about someone really having two cars there instead of the 
allowed one.

Occasionally someone parks in the wrong spot or someone allows a guest in but 
that is rare and causes much consternation so it doesn't happen often. A larger 
problem is people allowing a guest to park along a curb which is not a 
designated parking spot thus blocking others from backing out of their spaces 
and blocking fire lanes. Or workers parking in someone's spot during the day 
and they come home for lunch.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org