Post by Rebecca Rollins on Dec 13, 2011 23:11:00 GMT -6
Cohousing General Meeting Minutes
Sunday Dec. 10th
Meeting was facilitated by MAT. Rebecca took notes.
SITE COMMITTEE REPORT
Presented by Diana Sullivan
Diana passed out the lastest design for the Hermitage site.The newest plan is for it to have 4 different types of housing and cohousing will be one of those types. Since the site is so large we will basically be sharing it with other developers. There will also be larger homes near the exterior of the site and smaller homes as you move inward. But it will all have an East Nashville sort of feel with large porches, etc.
Germantown site.
We made on offer on the site on 5th and Taylor near Germantown. We offered them 750,000 and they said that was a little less than they were expecting. However, this is part of buisness as usual. They said they would get back to us with a counter-offer. Diana hopes this site will work out because the people who own this site are the same people who brought Greg Ramsey to Nashville to do the workshop at the Nashville Design Center last summer, and they had previously expressed a desire to have cohousing in Nashville. The land is owned by 2 people; one of them is Scott Chambers. If we were to agree on an offer the plan is that we would be able to hold the land for at least a year to do feasibility studies before we were actually required to buy it.
Several people agreed to meet Diana at 3:15 to view the site.
Other Sites
Diana is going to meet Jim McLean this afternoon to view a site. It's 2.8 acres off of Chesterfield, and we would only occupy half if we want this site. He has a plan for 43 cottage homes on the site.
There will be no meetings the rest of the year, we will work by email.
Who wants a rural site?
Cass said she would be interested in finding out what the wishes/requirements are of the other people are who would be interested in a more rural site. They talked about having a meeting of 2 or 3 people interested in a rural site. Diana suggested a conference call. Linda Ray said she'd put the request in the newsletter.
Cass said she'd been going thru the MLS listing to try to find land but its a slow and painful process.
How much of a site can we afford?
Diana said that she would like everyone interested in living in cohousing to find out how much of a loan they'd be able to get so that we can know how much we can afford. We should go on and get it done now, because if we find property that we really like, we may have to move fast. Everyone should go to a bank that offers mortages, and ask them how large of a mortgage would they be able to afford. The bank will do this for free. It's called getting "pre-qualified".
MEMBERSHIP /OUTREACH
Linda Ray.
Starting in January, we will plan to meet every other week. (All are on Sundays):
January 8 business (no program for new people)
Jan 22nd. business plus presentation for new people
Feb 5 business only
19 business and presentation
March 4 business only
March 18 business and presentation
April 1, 15, and 29 (if we want to continue meeting every other week)
Times would be:
1-2:30 for business meeting
1-5 business plus presentation
Every other meeting we will have a presentation afterwards for new people. (At 2:30 or 3:00, I forgot which).
Also, on Thursday (14th) Dot will give a presentation on Cohousing to an interested group, mainly people from the Quaker meeting. It will be at 3421 Hopkins near the first UU church.(I think she said it was the Houghton's house?) Come at 6:00 for the soup and 7:00 for the presentation. Both Linda Ray and Diana offered to provide Dot with Powerpoint presentations. They agreed that Diana's would be the back-up. Janet also has a big poster presentation board, but she had a flat tire and was unable to attend the meeting.
Meeting places
Diana said she will contact Goodwill to see if we could meet there. Glendale church has choir rehearsal in the afternoons which could affect our ability to have presentations after 3:00. Dot said she wondered if we could meet at the Quaker meeting house.
MARKETING
Linda Ray
Kim couldn't make it but is working on the website. The committee would like to propose budget of $400 a year. This would break down as follows:
Constant Contact email service is $15 a month
Website hosting is either $10 or $20 a month
The fiscal year would run October to Sept.
Linda Ray and Janet are currently paying for these out of their own pockets.
Linda Ray said $400 a year would give them a cushion. We have 1600 in the bank currently.
Diana suggested we use the Webber email contact system which is 39.95 a quarter. But Linda Ray said she has already paid for 6 months of constant contact.
The group reached consensus on agreeing to that budget.
Somebody needs to tell Janet that we agreed on a $400 budget for the Marketing Committee.
MISSION STATMENT
The mission statement, as re-written by Janet and Cass and John from Colorado, now reads:
"The mission of Nashville Cohousing is to facilitate the establishment of planned neighborhoods in Nashville, TN, that make it easy for residents to know their neighbors, live in environment friendly housing, and create a safe community for its residents and surrounding neighborhoods.”
It is now basically one statement instead of a whole page. It now contains no "trigger words" that neighbors or zoning commissions might object to. However, the group felt it was a bit vague. Someone said the mission statement is a drawing point for us - it needs to reflect us more specifically. However, Cass said it was a statement that would work well with bankers. Someone else suggested that we could put more specific stuff in our marketing materials.Rebecca said we could always change it later. The group approved the mission statement.
Finance
Presented by MAT
She said we haven't really had any money going in or coming out recently.
We briefly went around the room and talked about what sort of site we would like.
Brad said he was liking the Germantown site.
Jan Hartman said she liked the Germantown site, generally wanted something urban or westside, not Hermitage.
Dot said she preferred urban, something close in.
Diana said she likes the Hermitage site, but she likes Germantown too.
Rebecca said she preferred an urban site so she doesn't have a long commute.
Linda Ray said she wanted a site where she could have gardens and chickens. Likes Hermitage.
Cass wants a rural site so she can have dogs and gardens
Meeting critique:
Meeting felt less rushed (maybe because we added more time?) , more conversational, less structured. It was nice.
Sunday Dec. 10th
Meeting was facilitated by MAT. Rebecca took notes.
SITE COMMITTEE REPORT
Presented by Diana Sullivan
Diana passed out the lastest design for the Hermitage site.The newest plan is for it to have 4 different types of housing and cohousing will be one of those types. Since the site is so large we will basically be sharing it with other developers. There will also be larger homes near the exterior of the site and smaller homes as you move inward. But it will all have an East Nashville sort of feel with large porches, etc.
Germantown site.
We made on offer on the site on 5th and Taylor near Germantown. We offered them 750,000 and they said that was a little less than they were expecting. However, this is part of buisness as usual. They said they would get back to us with a counter-offer. Diana hopes this site will work out because the people who own this site are the same people who brought Greg Ramsey to Nashville to do the workshop at the Nashville Design Center last summer, and they had previously expressed a desire to have cohousing in Nashville. The land is owned by 2 people; one of them is Scott Chambers. If we were to agree on an offer the plan is that we would be able to hold the land for at least a year to do feasibility studies before we were actually required to buy it.
Several people agreed to meet Diana at 3:15 to view the site.
Other Sites
Diana is going to meet Jim McLean this afternoon to view a site. It's 2.8 acres off of Chesterfield, and we would only occupy half if we want this site. He has a plan for 43 cottage homes on the site.
There will be no meetings the rest of the year, we will work by email.
Who wants a rural site?
Cass said she would be interested in finding out what the wishes/requirements are of the other people are who would be interested in a more rural site. They talked about having a meeting of 2 or 3 people interested in a rural site. Diana suggested a conference call. Linda Ray said she'd put the request in the newsletter.
Cass said she'd been going thru the MLS listing to try to find land but its a slow and painful process.
How much of a site can we afford?
Diana said that she would like everyone interested in living in cohousing to find out how much of a loan they'd be able to get so that we can know how much we can afford. We should go on and get it done now, because if we find property that we really like, we may have to move fast. Everyone should go to a bank that offers mortages, and ask them how large of a mortgage would they be able to afford. The bank will do this for free. It's called getting "pre-qualified".
MEMBERSHIP /OUTREACH
Linda Ray.
Starting in January, we will plan to meet every other week. (All are on Sundays):
January 8 business (no program for new people)
Jan 22nd. business plus presentation for new people
Feb 5 business only
19 business and presentation
March 4 business only
March 18 business and presentation
April 1, 15, and 29 (if we want to continue meeting every other week)
Times would be:
1-2:30 for business meeting
1-5 business plus presentation
Every other meeting we will have a presentation afterwards for new people. (At 2:30 or 3:00, I forgot which).
Also, on Thursday (14th) Dot will give a presentation on Cohousing to an interested group, mainly people from the Quaker meeting. It will be at 3421 Hopkins near the first UU church.(I think she said it was the Houghton's house?) Come at 6:00 for the soup and 7:00 for the presentation. Both Linda Ray and Diana offered to provide Dot with Powerpoint presentations. They agreed that Diana's would be the back-up. Janet also has a big poster presentation board, but she had a flat tire and was unable to attend the meeting.
Meeting places
Diana said she will contact Goodwill to see if we could meet there. Glendale church has choir rehearsal in the afternoons which could affect our ability to have presentations after 3:00. Dot said she wondered if we could meet at the Quaker meeting house.
MARKETING
Linda Ray
Kim couldn't make it but is working on the website. The committee would like to propose budget of $400 a year. This would break down as follows:
Constant Contact email service is $15 a month
Website hosting is either $10 or $20 a month
The fiscal year would run October to Sept.
Linda Ray and Janet are currently paying for these out of their own pockets.
Linda Ray said $400 a year would give them a cushion. We have 1600 in the bank currently.
Diana suggested we use the Webber email contact system which is 39.95 a quarter. But Linda Ray said she has already paid for 6 months of constant contact.
The group reached consensus on agreeing to that budget.
Somebody needs to tell Janet that we agreed on a $400 budget for the Marketing Committee.
MISSION STATMENT
The mission statement, as re-written by Janet and Cass and John from Colorado, now reads:
"The mission of Nashville Cohousing is to facilitate the establishment of planned neighborhoods in Nashville, TN, that make it easy for residents to know their neighbors, live in environment friendly housing, and create a safe community for its residents and surrounding neighborhoods.”
It is now basically one statement instead of a whole page. It now contains no "trigger words" that neighbors or zoning commissions might object to. However, the group felt it was a bit vague. Someone said the mission statement is a drawing point for us - it needs to reflect us more specifically. However, Cass said it was a statement that would work well with bankers. Someone else suggested that we could put more specific stuff in our marketing materials.Rebecca said we could always change it later. The group approved the mission statement.
Finance
Presented by MAT
She said we haven't really had any money going in or coming out recently.
We briefly went around the room and talked about what sort of site we would like.
Brad said he was liking the Germantown site.
Jan Hartman said she liked the Germantown site, generally wanted something urban or westside, not Hermitage.
Dot said she preferred urban, something close in.
Diana said she likes the Hermitage site, but she likes Germantown too.
Rebecca said she preferred an urban site so she doesn't have a long commute.
Linda Ray said she wanted a site where she could have gardens and chickens. Likes Hermitage.
Cass wants a rural site so she can have dogs and gardens
Meeting critique:
Meeting felt less rushed (maybe because we added more time?) , more conversational, less structured. It was nice.