All-Community
Wasatch Cohousing Minutes,
Topics: Agenda landscaping. (1) responsibility for individual space, (2) role of landscape committee, (3) "small neighborhood" plans.
recruiting
Minutes of Recruitment Idea Brainstorm Meeting Thursday, February 26, 1998
Topics: recruitment. (1) present background of what has been done so far - Donna. (2) answer questions from group.(3) brainstorm for new ideas or improvements on old ones.
Due to lack of time, discussion of proposals for trees, structures, and around homes; brushpiles; and wild space, was tabled for later.
Round robin on how much space each individual wanted to take care of around their own unit.
Round robin on how the role of the landscape committee is envisioned.
Coordinate and care for common areas.
Advisors and consultants.
Scheduling of work phases.
Has a huge responsibility already; coordinate but maybe shouldn't be responsible for actual work.
Not have final say over what people can do in their own yards.
Make small decisions about yards rather than taking up time of whole group.
Define borders.
Separate groundskeeping committee.
Plan common themes, master plan, budget.
Stipend for crown units.
Oversee individual plans.
Groundskeeping on overall tasklist so people can sign up for as much or as little as desired.
One person as groundskeeping coordinator.
Oversight but not coordination of individual yards (allow diversity & personality).
Save time of whole group by putting yard proposals to landscape committee with appeal to group.
Does landscape budget cover the crown? trees?
Assume responsibility to plan for common areas.
Select list of plants, maybe purchase for resale to members.
List of recommended plants.
Childproof central path.
Resource.
Precious plants not out in traffic.
Offer guidelines and recommendations.
Landscaping crown is group's financial responsibility.
Recurrence of themes of coordinate, advise, consult, separate groundskeeping committee, handle yard proposals with appeal to group.
A question arose of private control vs. community sharing: balance individual vs. community responsibility, do work on yard for whole community, not just individual, need private space, not control area but enhance for community, spare the landscape committee or community work.
The group split into smaller discussion groups comprised of "neighborhoods" to discuss use of area, how could it look, ideas for larger trees or structures, then reported to whole group summary of discussion.
Unit N, east side, woody plants or trees to screen from car noise & lights.
Fence of south property line, visual barrier along Noorda's.
Enclose S&T (Dinsdale & Abe) in fence for dog & privacy.
Fruit trees on south side but not blocking solar access.
Uniform theme, harmonious.
Soft edge to common path.
Access along south fence between common house and workshop.
Smaller fenced areas behind houses, not to property line.
Fence around back for Neil's safety, preferably natural looking.
Something to attract other kids so Neil doesn't feel separated; tree house, trampoline.
Needs more discussion on gathering node, area among I, J, and Kris & Scott.
Kay, Mary, Myste, Gwen, Units F-I and crown fourplex (buildings 4, 5, & 9) tapered edge with plants pockets for change of brick into groundcover in central path.
Deciduous trees in back of crown and between duplexes.
Privacy on patios from common area.
Bring wild area close to backs of duplexes.
Boston ivy on north & west walls of building 5 (Mary & Kay).
Scented plants in front.
Roses or lilacs at end of crown back, screening carports.
Natural, friendly transition to open north area.
Different front yards.
Evergreen shrubbery intermittent along central path.
Flagstones around gathering node tree, picnic table.
Soft & durable plants edging path.
More detailed notes on discussion involving buildings 4, 5 & 9 (Gwen, Myste, Mary, & Kay)
Area in fronts in mostly just foot traffic area, not much room on sides of central path.
Transition instead of abrupt change from brick path.
Groundcover rather than grass in front, possibly tapestry.
Perhaps grass in back of crown, flowerbeds by patios.
Fence for Myste's dog Cosmo.
Stepping stones between duplexes.
Flowerbeds along individual sidewalks of crown.
Wild area close up to the back of duplexes.
View into wild area from back window, privacy screen around patio.
Transition between wild area and semiprivate area along backs of duplexes.
Sunloving plants along south of Gwen's, shade garden along north of Kay & Mary's.
K&M sunken patio, boston ivy on walls.
Kay & Mary want japanese maples & holly trees.
Myste says Vivian would like a climbing vine on her walls.
Lilacs, roses or wisteria along back wall of carports.
Eventually replace tree between duplexes.
Provide recommendations for deciduous trees for Viv & Myste.
Donna reported on what has been done so far.
The last six months to a year since Marti left, there has been an ad in Catalyst under directory resources with a description of cohousing and the information that we are under construction. The cost is $120 for 6 mos. Donna receives an average of ten calls per month. If a person seems interested she loans them the book and video. Of ten callers maybe one person comes to a presentation.
Advertising in Private Eye Weekly seems to generate calls interested in houses. Catalyst seems to generate calls interested in the concept of cohousing.
We have had a small month-long ad in the Tribune; Donna got one call.
Fliers worked in the beginning.
Newspaper article in the Deseret News got Franny to attend an intro presentation.
The event at Bibliotect got Tim & Gwen more firmly interested.
We have $5,000 left in the budget for recruiting.
The radio stations KUER and KRCL have reported on events. KRCL will only report on nonprofits, which we don't qualify for since we are trying to sell houses.
We have looked at what other groups have done. They say word of mouth is best and a web page is helpful.
Barriers to our potential recruits are primarily cost and location.
The risks if we do not get the units sold are that unsold units prevent members who have loaned money from being paid back, since that is the last money to be paid back. Three unsold units are the maximum that can be worked on by Kier, so we have to sell five before all buildings can be finished. If Kier has to stop work there may be additional expenses. We will pay more interest the longer construction takes. The bank advances only so much of the loan at a time. Restrictions are (1) only three unsold units at a time, and (2) only so much loan money before it gets paid back by sale of units.
Sale of a house garners 6% profit to a realtor. 4% of usual project cost is marketing, according to a conference Hugh attended.
The realtor is having a hard time. She has put up a sign and put us in the multiple listing. We may want to get another realtor, although another would charge more, 7% instead of 5%. We don't want to sign an exclusive agreement.
We have done presentations at the university, for instance at dept of architecture, but not with community groups like Kiwanis.
[Media] Advertise with KRCL program guide, talk radio Do program underwriting at public stations. Give donations to radio fund drives on behalf of Wasatch Cohousing, to get our name on the air. Many small donations get name on air many times. Civic dialog programs (tried, didn't get calls). Get an article into the real estate section of the tribune.
[Finding prospects] Develop a profile of someone who might be interested - looking for a house, can afford it, has educational/social background to be interested in avant garde idea, working for a living. Approach Babs Delay to be realtor. We are only spending $20/mo right now, very little. Contact other cohousings about people transferring to Utah. Booths at home shows (expensive). Put up a sign of our own as well as the realtors'. Naomi is getting a mockup done by a professional and will present it at a general business meeting. Out of state is an untapped market. Contact relocation depts of big companies & get leaflets to them. Hans has tried; some places allowed fliers to be put up, some they had to leave the fliers at the front desk. Get artist's rendering of what project will look like to show people. Will have units close to completion in April. Real estate agent friend of Kris was amazed we have sold thirteen units with nothing to show but a concept. No difference between educating about cohousing and selling. Teach people about the concept. Get speakers into a couple of meetings a month (15-minute talks). Subcommittee speakers bureau.
[Finding prospects via computer] Get web page set up. In addition to explanation of cohousing, fill web page with writings of members. How do you come to something, rather than just who you are. There are different paths to get to cohousing. A couple of cohousing web pages have pictures of the site with trees and streams. None had floor plans.
[Follow up on prospects we find] Follow up better on calls we are already getting. Team to meet with prospects one on one and do follow up. Drop literature and info off in person; assign a member as caseworker to each prospect. (We need to follow through with Bonnie Flick. Her hesitation stems from her child being with ex on east side two nights a week.) Social Committee could do follow ups on interim basis, but following up should be a group responsibility. People visiting site will see dumped mattresses etc. (clean up committee). Prospects like Bonnie Flick don't see what happens after a meeting like last GBM; several members said they would do follow ups.
[Spreading the burden - er, opportunity] Everyone is on the Recruiting Committee; divide into subcommittees. Get members to commit to particular recruitment subcommittee tasks. If work is spread out, won't burn out as much. Look at what committees we are on and assess whether they are as important as recruiting. Write up and present ideas @ GBM, get members not present tonight to attend. Ask each member to sign up for a particular subcommittee recruiting task. The next GBM is social architecture, but this can be approached as getting the community to coalesce around a particular task and burnout & distribution of responsibilities being a community issue. Hans & Steve will synthesize something for Saturday. Donna is willing to continue taking phone calls but she needs to be able to hand people over to a follow-up (finishing) specialist after she has talked to them. Possible subcommittees: web page, site cleanup, prospect followup, introductory presentations, speakers, writers, printing recruiting materials.
[Buying time] We might be able to stop construction on unsold units and have Kier proceed with units that are sold (Hugh to check).
v. April 25, 2020