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

[Buzz Harris (buzz_harris]

 Hi Brenda.

I would suggest contacting some of the existing cohousing communities in 
Virginia and asking them about their experience with this.

www.blueberryhill.org is in Vienna

www.emersoncommons.org is in Crozet

www.richmondcohousing.com is in Richmond

www.shadowlakevillage.org is on Blacksburg

I believe that there are a couple of others.

Good luck!

Buzz
Mosaic Commons Cohousing
Berlin, MA

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Buzz Harris


What used to be called liberal is now called radical,
What used to be called radical is now called insane,
What used to be called reactionary is now called moderate, and
What used to be called insane is now called solid conservative thinking.

-Tony Kushner


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     On Saturday, July 18, 2026 at 07:51:05 PM EDT, Brenda Uekert via 
Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:  
 
 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>
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