Cohousing-L Mailing List: Abingdon, VA — commercial vs. common house classification strategy

[Brenda Uekert (docbku]

Hi all,

I'm in the due diligence phase of the purchase of a 2-acre parcel in SW
Virginia (Abingdon). My plan is to develop Blue Ridge Cottage Court, a
12-unit net-zero multi-generational cottage court.

Our local building official flagged that a "clubhouse" gets tagged as
commercial/Assembly occupancy under Virginia's building code — which brings
a real cost premium (sprinklers, panic hardware, commercial-grade
construction, higher permit fees). So now we're wondering how to replace
the "clubhouse" with a "common house" that we use for meetings and crafts
and get residential status.

Curious how other communities have handled this:

   - Did your common house get classified as commercial, residential, or
   something in between — and what drove that outcome?
   - If you avoided commercial classification, how did you do it?
   - Any regrets or things you'd do differently, cost-wise or design-wise,
   in regard to the common house, looking back?

Thanks in advance — happy to share back what we land on once we've worked
through it with our architect.

Brenda
Blue Ridge Cottage Court <https://drbrendau.com/blue-ridge-cottage-court/>
-- 

*Brenda K. Uekert, PhD*

Sociologist | Writer | Adventurer

📚 Read my Substack - Cottage Court Chronicles
<https://cottagecourt.substack.com/p/coming-soon>