Mosaic Commons Minutes 4/7/2002

Minutes of Mosaic Commons General Meeting
April 7, 2002, 3:30-6:30pm

Present:	John Barrett, Catya Belfer-Shevett, Dave Belfer-Shevett, Ben Blum, Janice Carduner, Rosa Carson, Judy Dempewolff, Stephanie Doss, Dwight Ernest, Kai von Fintel, Pascal von Fintel, Sarah Florreich, Virginia Fry, Greg Hellyer, Gabe Osborne, Kim Shute, Roxanne Theimer, San Tunstall, Emma Tunstall, Christie White, Lisa Wolf, Jim Cook, Deb Barsel, Chris ScottHanson, Jim Kiely, Abby Kiely, Brendan Kiely
Location:	Parmenter, Wayland
Facilitator:	Rosa, John
Notes:	Stephanie, Christie
Process Observer:	John
Timekeeper	Dave

Decisions:

Kim and Rick became Equity Members
Purchase rights to use the mosaic artwork in print at $100/month for 5 months, out of the Marketing Budget.

Action Items:

#	Team	Person	Open Date	Priority	Update	Status	Description
1	Affordability	Kim	4/7/02			open	Did Martha's Vineyard use a 40b for development? Ask john abrams. Can we get clarification of how the Lottery works with a 40b. Chris suggests talking to a woman :) Someone on the process committee.
2	Affordability	Kim	4/7/02			open	Call the Hopkinton housing authority regarding their affordability numbers - how do houses 'fall out' of affordable rankings?
3	Coordinating	Catya	11/18/01	low		open	Parents review ... (see cat?) - details: "what we want from a baby sitter in terms of style" Write up for handout
4	Coordinating	San	12/16/01		2/17/02	open	San will resend process workshop information to the list - holding off until after the workshop 3/1 - will do after this GM follow-up discussion
5	Coordinating	San	1/20/02		2/26/02	open	Follow up ongoing participation Should work with draft Rosa sent to list on 2/26
6	Coordinating	Steph	1/20/02			open	Start a discussion on list – how to deal with someone stating intention to become an equity member, and group does not come to consensus
7	Coordinating	Everyone	2/3/02			open	Write up Personal Team/Responsibility for MC ( like Cat's example)
8	Coordinating	Rosa	2/17/02	med	2/28/02	open	Find a place for a retreat 2/28 - collecting sites
9	Coordinating	San	2/17/02			open	Write up more thorough description of schedule coordinator
10	Coordinating	San	2/17/02			open	Add implementation notes to mentor system
11	Coordinating	Roxanne	3/3/02		4/5/02	open	Get in touch with Jerry to get soft copy of handouts from facilitation workshop 4/5 - left message with Jerry
12	Coordinating	Janice	3/17/02			open	Help with 4/21 Intro meeting
13	Coordinating	Virginia	3/17/02	med		open	Research meeting space alternatives
14	Coordinating	Dave	4/7/02			open	Take on AIM job
15	Coordinating	San	4/7/02			open	Start a discussion / work up raw details for the retreat
16	Coordinating	Rosa	4/7/02			open	Talk to Dwight about putting the deposit for the retreat on the credit card
17	Coordinating	Lisa W.	4/7/02			open	Talk to communication person about getting details about a talk. (3 hrs?)
18	Coordinating	San	6/17/01		9/16/01	ongoing	Go through the discussion list subscriptions and do pruning where necessary.
19	Coordinating	Ken	10/21/01			ongoing	Schedule borrowing video projector for each meeting. 11/18 - Reassigned to ken
20	Coordinating	Catya	11/4/01			ongoing	Coordinate babysitting for future meetings
21	Coordinating	John	1/20/02			ongoing	Parmenter Key – Dwight's the backup
22	Coordinating	Kim	1/20/02			ongoing	Call Jeanette to confirm
23	Coordinating	Greg	3/3/02			ongoing	bring bag of paper goods to meeting
24	Facilitation	Christie	4/7/02			open	Bring guitar for next meeting - light n lively
25	Finance	Kai	11/4/01			open	Come up with a 'possible sources of money' sort of survey / worksheet for folks to work though.
26	Finance	Dwight	12/2/01		2/28/02	open	Talk to metro west about mortgage pre-approval stuff - contact plus list of info they need. 2/28 - Contacted Mark Lampson at BankNorth. He has agreed to come in and present qualification and contact info at our 3/17 meeting, at 3:30, for about 15 minutes.
27	Finance	Kai	2/17/02			open	Rewrite proposal about when budget increases, how to handle 5% equity payments
28	Finance	Dwight	4/7/02			open	Credit Card for Cat
29	Finance	Lisa L	6/3/01		8/19/01	ongoing	Research affordability facilitation groups 6/17/01 - most organizations don't seem to want to allocate funds until you're ready to break ground 8/19 Ongoing 9/16 Ongoing 10/21 In a crunch schoolwise, slowing down til end of november.
30	Finance	Kim	7/15/01		2/3/02	ongoing	2/3/02 501(c)3 is not appropriate for our group , a lot of work for no guarantees. Has found an experience attorney Matt Keifer, has extensive beackground in cohousing.Spoke with many people from different cohousing groups about how to approach affordability. 2/28 - now working with attorney Kate McCabe (who worked w/ Matt Keifer), and pursuing other avenues to aproach affordable housing like possible tax abatement, habitat for humanity, among others
31	LandSite	Roxanne	6/17/01			open	Contact Jason re: Energy Star 10/21 reassigned to roxanne 11/18 Sent email, haven't heard back 12/02 - jason is not longer working for Energy star 2/17 - playing phone tag wit hthe new person 2/21 - got in contact with Catraina Cooke, needs 10 minutes at GM to discuss
32	LandSite	John	2/17/02			open	Ask Chris what the factors are that he's using to evaluate a piece of land - If we see a piece that we want to prescreen, what can we do?
33	LandSite	John / Roxanne	2/17/02			open	Figure out what towns we have zoning info for and get it for other towns we're looking at. - Make sure we have it on hand for all the towns we are considering 4/5 - have for Stow, Acton, Concord, need Maynard & possibly Hopkinton
34	LandSite	Steph	2/17/02			open	Find the list of questions in the minutes asking about land and get it to John
35	LandSite	Dave, Greg, Virginia	4/7/02			open	Come up with a way to work through finding out how we should evaluate / go over our requirements for land.
36	LandSite	Greg	4/7/02			open	Get photos / ariel photos of the sites
37	Marketing/ Membership	Rosa	8/19/01	low		open	Make a note in the decision log about becoming an associate and and equity member on the same day.
38	Marketing/ Membership	Catya	3/17/02			open	Make nametag for Lisa Wolf
39	Marketing/ Membership	Catya	3/17/02			open	Handouts for the next intro meetings: new membership doc and 10 reasons doc
40	Marketing/ Membership	Dwight	3/17/02	high		open	Propose requirement for associates & members that involvements in other cohousing groups be disclosed
41	Marketing/ Membership	Dwight	3/17/02	high		open	propose mentoring be required for associates
42	Marketing/ Membership	Judy	3/17/02		4/5/02	open	Database of mentors/mentees on website 4/5 - Provided update to list, along with list of mentors/mentees. Needs help creating database.
43	Marketing/ Membership	Catya	4/7/02			open	Talk to the owner of the mosaic graphic and see if he'd be cool with us paying for it for $100/mo for 5 months.
44	Marketing/ Membership	Ben B.	4/7/02			open	Come up with a 'word' that covers Associates and Members.
45	Marketing/ Membership	Catya	4/7/02			open	Check out the intro meeting date in may
46	Marketing/ Membership	Kai	6/3/01		11/18/01	ongoing	Write up examples of the items we need to have included in the Operating Agreement for our group to review at the next meeting. 6/17/01 - still in the works, need to slate a time to do this, it'll take half a meeting to work out the details 08/05/01 - First drafts presented and discussed - still going on. 11/18 - some to discuss to day, more to do
47	Marketing/ Membership	Steph	8/5/01		9/16/01	ongoing	Put together a 'members handbook' for new people 10/21 Talk to christie and judy about helping out.
48	Marketing/ Membership	Everyone	9/16/01			ongoing	All will reread the information about the Process Workshops that was sent to the mosaic-commons email list by San.
49	Marketing/ Membership	Everyone	10/7/01		11/4/01	ongoing	ALL should send information to Cat asap about the various email lists you are on so she can send the announcements to them. Deadline: monday dec 10th
50	Marketing/ Membership	Lisa	11/4/01			ongoing	Research article that Kai found about Gay elders and housing discrimination, with a view toward marketing.
51	Marketing/ Membership	Kim	2/3/02			ongoing	Follow up calls for intro meeting
52	Marketing/ Membership	Christie/Ben	3/3/02			ongoing	Create a Mosaic Commons song book
53	Marketing/ Membership	Judy	3/3/02			ongoing	track marketing literature, places to advertise, etc.
54	Secretary	Steph	8/5/01		9/16/01	open	Steph will work on protocol for distributing documents. 9/16 still working on it. 11/18 Not done yet
55	Secretary	San	12/2/01			open	Add names of previous members to members database
56	Secretary	Steph	1/20/02		3/1/01	open	Rework pet policy discussion 3/1 - working on it, should have something for list in a few days
57	Website	Catya	11/18/01		4/7/02	open	Put the mp3's from the conference up on the web. 12/16 - cat will put in links to Ken's site 2/28 - Need to recheck the URL with Ken, the one I have doesn't work. 4/7 - URL still not working
58	Website	Ken	3/14/02			open	Give Catya an updated URL for mp3's from the conference
59	Website	Everyone		high		open	Update cell numbers on the site, and then Kim get them to Jeanette
60	Website	Kai				open	2 new faq questions SVS connection and child friendliness.

Discussion:

Agenda

1. Opening Activity
What type of clothing would you NOT wear? (This was fun!)

2. Review of colored cards and ground rules
Skipped this agenda item as we had no new people present at the beginning of the meeting.

3. Announcements and Approval of Agenda
Steph informed people that there is a possibility that we will not be able to meet at Parmenter on 4/21. She will research this more on Monday.
Agenda Approved without changes.

4. Review and Approve Minutes from previous meeting
Approved with one change - new associates do not need to be recorded in the Decision Log.

5. Kim & Rick's submission to become Equity Members
Discussed the following proposal: Approve their equity membership pending clarification with the finance committee that they can meet the 5% down payment on a schedule to be determined with the finance committee.
Approved.

6. Action Items

Sarah has informed the group that she needs to resign from this role as she had recently had a significant schedule change due to professional licensure requirements.
She informed people about the job requirements.
Dave volunteered to take this on and will not go over the action items during the meeting and will use the system that Sarah had set up.
Dwight and Dave will, within 30 days, get software up on the website so that this will be self-updating.
Rosa worked on the retreat:
Owl's Nest (www.whoooo.com) is $55 per person for the weekend. She has not yet found out the cost for small children. It is located about 2 hours north of here in Andover, NH.
Weekend dates we're looking at (and the retreat place is open): april 27-28 (rosa is out of town), may 11-12. Agreed to the May 10-12 date.
Is this a group expenditure, or is it an individual expense? Will discuss this on email. Coordinating Committee will bring this discussion forth on the email list.
Is there an identified focus or topic for the retreat? No, not yet. The major focus is usually community building.
We will need to put down a $400 deposit when we reserve the weekend. Finance committee will discuss this with Rosa.

7. Team Reports
Finance Committee:

Dwight reviewed the Statement and Cash Flow report.
Update on $200,000 goal: Dwight reports that it looks like we can barely reach the $200,000 goal within the timeline we've been given by Chris. This is contingent upon a LOT of issues, but it is probably doable with the current equity members. The cash flow of this, however, is very variable (lumpy, as Kai put it). Having new members will certainly help reach this goal.
Kai and Dwight will be contacting each household to let them know what assumptions they are making about the households to reach this goal and clarify.
Dwight asked Chris how serious Cohousing Resources is about holding us to the 7 equity households at the start of Purchase and Sale. Chris answered later.
The group needs to vote on a $66 expense that Rosa incurred for the food during the meeting with Chris ScottHanson on Thursday. Approved reimbursement to Rosa for this expense.
It appears that we may need to revisit our policy about expenditures for the special meetings, such as the ones where we meet with Chris ScottHanson.

8. Proposal to buy rights to Mosaic image

Sarah is proposing that we purchase the rights to the Mosaic artwork so that we can put it on a T-Shirt to be worn for marketing, specifically at NEFFA.
Lots of agreement among folks that it is a good idea, but worried about the expense right now.
Several suggestions that we still do a T-Shirt without the mosaic artwork.
Dwight proposes that we spend $100/month for 5 months to purchase the mosaic artwork, to come out of the Marketing Budget. Approved.

9. Update on Conflict Resolution Process
John proposed that an ad-hoc team of people will develop possible approaches for the whole group to use in the conflict resolution process and bring those back to the group for consideration, discussion, and guidance. All agreed and this will be formed.

10. Proposals to review associates requirements

Dwight brought forth a proposal to change the associate requirements to include the following:
"All Members and Associates are asked to disclose the nature of their involvement with other cohousing groups, if any."
Cat suggested that we need to change the language to…. Cat will contact Dwight directly about this to work on the wording and Dwight will come back with an updated proposal.
"All new Associates will be assigned a mentor within two weeks of their joining. Mentor and new Associate will cooperate to assure that the customs, responsibilities, and privileges of being a Mosaic Associate are clearly understood and communicated." Dwight will table this proposal until further discussion with Judy about the mentoring process.

---BREAK---

11. Process Check-in

Christie wanted to check in with Kim about the earlier decision around her and Rick's equity status. Kim didn't have much feedback for the group right now.
Janice asked about where the Facilitation Team is at - Rosa answered her and said she'd be sending out an email about it tonight.

12. Land Search Update
Chris reviewed our previous land search process and decisions to start out the discussion.
Two sites to consider: one in Acton, one in Hopkinton. Hopkinton is VERY expensive.

Hopkinton:

They are looking for affordable housing and would consider a friendly 40b. There is a piece of land and the seller is desperate to sell.
Problem: needs to have more than 10 acres of upland acres to qualify for ___, it currently has 8 acres. ½ of the property is wetland.
Very pretty. There is a house on the property right now. The owner wants too much money for it. Asking 2.6, but will probably take less than 2m.
Property is 15 acres (1/2 is wetland). Greg asked about who has determined that there are wetlands - the answer is that there was a decision by the town to designate a portion of this property that is wetland. The wetland goes through the area, with a driveway that crosses the wetlands. All of the development could be done on one side of the wetlands. Janice asked for a clarification of the definition of "wetland delineation". Greg asked this in detail. The impact is that you can't build on the wetland and there is a buffer zone around the land. Greg says this is a very good time of year to go out and evaluate the land. He would be willing to do this.
This land would give us 16-20 units on this property. We would want to sell the business that is on the front of this property, lose 5 acres (leaving 3-4 acres to build on), but gain roughly 1m to 500k which would reduce the ultimate cost of the land = 1m to 1.4m
There are some possible sewage capacity problems. This will effect the value of the land and the cost of developing it.
There are two landlocked parcels adjacent to this land - might be for sale as well. Possible that we might be able to assemble something that makes more sense. Part of the reason he can't sell this land is that it is difficult to develop the land under current laws. Chris and Stu Mayer (Nexum) have done some odd projects.
Roxanne asked about the last cohousing group that tried to build in Hopkinton - clarified that they went about it in a very difficult way. They were trying to create Cohousing Zoning, but we wouldn't require this.
Would 40b be necessary for this property? Unclear. Chris is still researching. Kim explains that this is more risky with fewer units due to the lottery.
Would it be possible to do the pod unit situation to get our unit count up? Yes
There would be a limitation of 50-52 bedrooms on this property.
Greg asks if we can get access to the property - yes. Greg wants to look it. Chris can get the information provided by the realtor.
Nexum may want this property if we don't want it.
Jim suggests that Kim talk to someone in the know in Hopkinton about what's going on 40b. The housing that they have there now that is "affordable" is falling out of 40b housing, perhaps because of escape clauses.
The property in Hopkinton would be easier to tie up. Very motivated seller. Single guy.

Stow:

We're also looking both sites in Stow (65 acre, and 38 acre) - we had originally given up on the 38 acre site, but we might be able to work with a 40b to develop it.
2m for the 38 acre site. This is potentially less expensive, but this property is too small to do the Sr. Housing.

Difference between the two sites:

The big difference between the two properties: The Stow property is owned by a corporation and they've already turned down 4-5 offers. We would need to impress them with who we are. We'd need to figure out how to approach them to make it work. Asking for a few years to close on it might not work. Hopkinton owner is very motivated to sell and he might be willing to do a delayed closing with enough cash up front.

Cat points out that we really need to figure out the answer to the 40b lottery issue because it may greatly impact our decision. Chris suggests that we don't go to a lawyer yet because they won't be able to deal with our community yet. Chris suggests that we talk to John Abrams ASAP and ask about how they worked out the lottery issue around 40b.

Need to know next: Chris could make offers on either property since these are both listed. Need to decide which property to focus on and make an offer on.

Based on what little information we have, what is your gut feel about which property we should focus on? 10 for Stow, 4 Hopkinton, and 3 don't care.
Would any of the equity members rule out Hopkinton if we go for it? No, but there are some orange cards.
The developer that brought the Hopkinton site to Chris will continue to pursue that site for himself. If he doesn't like what he finds out, he'll keep us in mind. In the mean time Chris will work with the developer to pursue the Stow property.
Dwight asked about Chris' confidence level for each of these sites. Chris said that he is 90% sure we could get a P&S approved for the Hopkinton property, and 50% for the 38 acre property in Stow. His estimate for success is largely based on the fact that the 38acre Stow property is owned by Compaq in Texas - much more complex.
Janice asked about the possibility of Compaq being purchased by HP - would that make it more complicated? Yes, possibly.
Deb asked whether buying a commercial piece of land would increase the likelihood of contaminated land.
Dave said the merger could make the deal more difficult or less difficult. We just don't know.
Roxanne requested a go-around despite the fact that we showed our preferences with the colored cards (Yellow-Stow, Red-Hopkinton). We did so and it was helpful.
Kim asked about the restriction of 7 households to do land purchase. Chris' answer is that he is serious, and we should be too, about this limit. He learned that a group that is 8 households couldn't agree. His experience is that 7 is the upper limit for making this decision. He would be concerned about the pulls that we've been dealing with as it is.
Kim brought up the question of the Lincoln issue. Is it worth revisiting?
It was brought up that perhaps we need to re-visit our search towns, but not enough time to discuss today. Christie asked if it makes sense for us to redirect our focus to other towns. Chris answered that he's using less of a town focus approach and more of a networking approach and finding land options through this network. Chris restates that we should really work on these properties before broadening the search again. He may look into Lincoln anyway by talking to Bridget and the group she recommends. Basically, he wants to work all three irons in the fire, focusing primarily on the two Stow properties.

13. Extending early incentive money
Postponed this discussion so that we could continue to discuss the land issue.

14. Future dates
4/21/02 1:00-3:00 Intro (Janice will assist) - RCN in Marlboro
4/21/02 3:30-6:30 General Meeting - RCN in Marlboro
5/5/02 3:30-6:30 General Meeting - Parmenter
5/19/02 1:00-3:00 Intro meeting: (Sarah to assist) - Parmenter
5/19/02 3:30-6:30 General Meeting - Parmenter?
Social: Games Night April 12 at Sarah's
Retreat: May 10-12 at The Owl's Nest www.whoooo.com
Chris in town May 9-14th

15. Review of Meeting
Christie will bring her guitar for a future meeting to do a light-n-lively

Last modified: April 18, 2002