Quaker Intentional Village-Canaan Member Agreement
Approved 9/17/13, revised 3/15/14, revised 6/25/2017, revised 4/27/19
The following are agreements that we expect all members to honor in their relationship to QIVC.
A. We agree to the following financial agreements:
For Homeowner Members:
Setting and paying the amount of the required membership loan: When homeowner membership begins, homeowner members agree to make a membership loan to QIVC equal to $30 per square foot of the home they are buying or building. This required membership loan is most often made up front, but can be made via a payment plan acceptable to both the new members and QIVC. (The required membership loan is separate from the purchase or construction cost of the house, because it helps cover the cost of the land and any commonly owned improvements, such as driveways, septic systems, wells, and the Farmhouse.)
Return of the required membership loan: If the house is sold to a new member and the associated membership loan has been collected, QIVC will return to the departing member the amount of the required membership loan minus any debts to QIVC. Circumstances of the house sale may alter the schedule of repayment. For example, if the community buys the departing member’s house, therefore foregoing a new membership loan, repayment may take longer than if a lump-sum membership loan from a new member were available. The repayment schedule will be determined in deliberation with the departing member.
Setting and adjusting percentage interests in a QIVC land parcel: QIVC sets percentage interests in a QIVC land parcel when needed for purposes such as transferring ownership of interest in a QIVC parcel and allocating property taxes to those with interest. QIVC calculates the percentage for the land by taking as a starting point the Town of Canaan property assessment figure. For each residence (including its accessory buildings such as sheds), QIVC calculates replacement cost less depreciation. Any setting or changing of percentage interests requires approval at a duly called QIVC business meeting.
Acknowledgement of risk: New members acknowledge that there is a financial risk in joining this community. It is the community’s intention to pay back the required membership loan if a member leaves the community, but at any specific time we may not have the resources to pay it back in full immediately. We cannot guarantee the timing of repayment.
For All Members:
Annual fee to QIVC: Members pay an annual fee, as determined by the Finance and Legal Committee in deliberation with each member via our process of discernment. This fee covers QIVC operating expenses.
Member Agreement about Payments
Failure to meet payment agreements is onerous to the community as a whole. The annual fee paid by all members covers the insurance, maintenance, and taxes for the community’s property as well as other community expenses. The monthly rent paid by rental members covers not only the annual fee but also the costs of maintenance, insurance, and taxes for the rental buildings. Thus if a member fails to pay, all other members bear these costs (or take the risk of not paying for them).
All members will follow the same financial-agreement process:
Payment dates are agreed to in advance by members and the community, as part of setting the annual budget and the annual fees.
The member is then expected to make the payment in full on or before the new date without reminders.
If members do not follow this process:
For members who make lump-sum payments, if the process is not followed twice in a row, a meeting is initiated. (The structure of the meeting is described below.)
For members with monthly payments, if this process is not followed for three payments in a row, or is not followed for three out of five payments, a meeting is initiated.
The meeting will follow gospel order—the Financial Clerk will meet with the member along with a member of Finance & Legal Committee to try to resolve the problem.
If a member is in significant arrears with no prospect of being able to live up to their financial agreements, Finance & Legal will bring to the business meeting the question of moving the member to non-residential status.
B. We agree to the following additional agreements:
Decision-making process: We conduct community business in the traditional manner of the Religious Society of Friends, by seeking the sense of the meeting or seeking unity. We agree to participate in these meetings and be bound by agreements made at such meetings, including those made prior to our participation.
Participation: The community cannot thrive or even survive without the energy and time of all members. We agree to participate in the life and work of QIVC as we are able, attending workdays and special events, participating in community business meetings and committee meetings, and sharing the work of committees.
We agree to follow the Agreements & Expectations for Residents and Members of QIVC (http://qivc.org/content/expectations-and-agreements)
We agree to follow our process for conflict resolution as described in our Conflict Transformation Procedure (http://qivc.org/content/conflict-transformation-procedure). It is Friends’ practice to prefer mediation or negotiation, rather than litigation, to resolve disputes. In order to avoid an adversarial legal process, we agree not to engage in litigation to resolve disputes among each other or with QIVC. Therefore if the conflict transformation process does not result in resolution, members agree to engage in community mediation facilitated by an outside mediator, and, if not successful, to submit to binding arbitration.
QIVP membership: We agree that when entering into QIVC membership, each member household also becomes a member of the QIVP, Inc. organization. (QIVC will financially support QIVP, Inc. based on the number of QIVC members.)
For Homeowner Members:
House construction and design: The design of a new dwelling at QIVC requires approval at a QIVC business meeting.
House alteration: Members agree to bring house alteration plans that change the square footage or the footprint of their houses to the community for approval. Changing the square footage changes a household’s buy-in fee.
Non-members living in the community:
If homeowner members want to rent their house or part of their house to non-members (for example, renting their house while leaving the community temporarily), their proposed renter(s) must be approved by the membership. The homeowners are responsible for orienting the renter(s) to the Agreements & Expectations for Residents and Members of QIVC (http://qivc.org/content/expectations-and-agreements).
In the event of the death of a homeowner member, the heirs to the member’s QIVC house inherit the value of the house (as determined per our community process for setting house value). Heirs may have long-term use of the house itself only if they are, or if they become, members of QIVC in the usual fashion.
Upon entering the community, homeowner members agree to reflect #9 above in the legal documents that contain their estate plans. This may be done, for example, via revision or creation of a will, creating a codicil to a will, or revising a trust document, using sample legal language provided by QIVC.
For All Members:
We agree to follow our Process for Exiting Membership (http://qivc.org/content/process-exiting-QIVC-residential-membership)
C. Breach of agreement: If a member does not follow these agreements, the community will follow our usual decision-making process in deciding whether it will take action and, if so, what action it will take in response.
D. By signing this member agreement, the member agrees to be bound by future versions of or addendums to this agreement, as approved by QIVC business meetings and reflected in our numbered minutes.
Member Signatures
I have read and understood, and agree to follow, the Agreements for Members of the Quaker Intentional Village-Canaan.
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