Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Enforcing CC&Rs

[Petra Martin (petra]

Thank you for all your responses so far and holy cow, Liz, if THIS doesn't
hit the nail on the head!

The idea of consensus and consent and all the forms we use for decision
making, is that if everyone is in on the decision then enforcement won't be
an issue. It's simply not true. Some people aren't taking an active role in
the decision making (even if they are at the meeting where the decision is
made.) Some people don't remember the decision. Some people are not rules
followers, even for the rules they helped make. And some people want to
follow the rules but cannot do what is needed.


Petra Martin
360.202.7403
*WhatsApp* <https://wa.me/13602027403>

---


On Sat, Jun 22, 2024 at 1:17 PM Elizabeth Magill <pastorlizm [at] gmail.com>
wrote:

> You may want to work your way through your agreements slowly, over time. I
> suggest bring up several at meetings and ask people if they consent to them
> for now. For the ones without consent, figure out if you want it gone until
> it's fixed, or kept until it's fixed. And then have a team of people work
> on it.
> Count on that taking a couple years.
>
> As far as enforcement, it's useful to have steps (tell the person face to
> face, tell the person in writing, tell again in writing  with consequences
> for compliance listed, tell them you are going to impose consequences,
> impose consequences.)
> At Mosaic Commons Cohousing in Berlin, MA, 15 years since move in, we don't
> have much experience with this as we mostly don't have very many people who
> are willing to do the telling.
>
> I mean we have lots of experience with the *problem* we just don't do much
> to enforce anything other than non-payment of fees, and we find even that
> pretty difficult.
>
> The idea of consensus and consent and all the forms we use for decision
> making, is that if everyone is in on the decision then enforcement won't be
> an issue. It's simply not true. Some people aren't taking an active role in
> the decision making (even if they are at the meeting where the decision is
> made.) Some people don't remember the decision. Some people are not rules
> followers, even for the rules they helped make. And some people want to
> follow the rules but cannot do what is needed.
>
> (Hoarding issues often fall into "I want to clean this up" even when all
> evidence is that they are not doing anything about it.)
>
> -Liz
> (The Rev. Dr.) Elizabeth Mae Magill
> Pastor, Ashburnham Community Church
> Minister to the Affiliates, Ecclesia Ministries
> www.elizabethmaemagill.com
> 508-450-0431
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 21, 2024 at 11:32 AM Petra Martin <petra [at] petramartin.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Our (young) community <https://fifthstreetcommons.com/> was founded by
> two
> > couples, one of whom never lived here (but owned a unit that has since
> been
> > sold) and the other who did live here for a while (but that unit has also
> > been sold). They retrofitted intentional community into a former
> apartment
> > complex and outfitted us with what looks like a boilerplate set of CC&Rs
> > <https://fifthstreetcommons.com/governing-documents/>.
> >
> > Bottom line, we inherited a bunch of rules that we had no hand in
> creating,
> > one rule is being violated (don't store stuff in the carports), and we've
> > been going around in circles for nine months trying to rewrite that rule
> in
> > a way that works for everyone, with no resolution in sight.
> >
> > Some of us are thinking, "Hey, it seems like it might be less painful to
> > just enforce the rules as written," but no one has ever done that here.
> >
> > So, two questions:
> >
> >    - Do you have community-generated CC&Rs that you're willing to share
> >    with me, so we can see how other cohousing communities have written
> > their
> >    rules and agreements?
> >    - How do you enforce your community's rules? What are the
> >    steps/escalations? (These
> >    <https://www.hoamanagement.com/how-can-hoa-enforce-rules-regulations/
> >
> > feel
> >    fairly standard for HOAs but don't necessarily seem like a perfect
> match
> >    for cohousing/intentional communities).
> >
> > Thank you for helping us work through this!
> >
> > Petra Martin (board president)
> > 360.202.7403
> > *WhatsApp* <https://wa.me/13602027403>
> > _________________________________________________________________
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> >
> >
> >
> >
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