Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: State Legislative Suggestions/Models

[Ann Zabaldo (zabaldo]

Ann — I totally agree w/ Philip in re: incentives and site planning. The State 
will have some authority as we have seen Oregon itself eliminating single 
family zoning.  

Oregon is LITTERED w/ cohousing. (That’s a litter problem I’d love to have … )  
 It might be useful to spend a little amount of time surveying some of the 
communities’s founders asking what changes would have made building cohousing 
easier for them.  You might find a constellation of issues that might be 
addressed by State legislation.  But … as Philip said more likely it’s going to 
be local building requirements.

Best --

Ann Zabaldo
Takoma Village Cohousing
Washington, DC
Member, Board of Directors
Mid Atlantic Cohousing
Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC
Falls Church, VA
202.546.4654

Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.


> On Sep 11, 2019, at 3:28 PM, RPD iCloud via Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] 
> cohousing.org> wrote:
> 
> For better or worse, housing development is mostly governed by local zoning 
> and subdivision law.  This local law is a function of local tradition and 
> geography, local community sentiment and politics, and the interactions and 
> ambitions of local developers and landowners.  While it’s possible to pursue 
> the intellectual exercise of “model legislation” as a universally useful 
> template, the chances of any locality saying Wow, this is just what we 
> wanted, aren’t particularly good.  Nor will much good come out of a state 
> trying to dictate development policy to the local level.
> 
> In my opinion, the best way for a progressive state government to promote 
> cohousing — and affordable housing generally — is to invent and maintain a 
> program of incentives for localities to increase allowed density (dwelling 
> units per acre), and to better tolerate site design flexibility strategies 
> like cluster zoning, PUDs, and multi-family building types.
> 
> Thanks,
> Philip Dowds
> Cornerstone Cohousing
> Cambridge, MA
> On Sep 11, 2019, 2:05 PM -0400, Ann Lehman <ann [at] zimmerman-lehman.com>, 
> wrote:
>> My State Rep (Oregon), Rob Nosse is offering to meet with us and talk about 
>> any legislative suggestions to promote cohousing. I’m looking for model 
>> legislation or suggestions?
>> 
>> Ann Lehman
>> Principal
>> Zimmerman Lehman
>> forging futures for nonprofits
>> https://zimmerman-lehman.com/
>> 510.755.5701
>> 
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>> 
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>> CoHousing Association of U.S.
>> https://www.cohousing.org/
>> 
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>> 
>> 
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