Private Residence and Farmland:
Our take has been that candidates on private family residential property are ineligible. This includes outward facing boundary walls that are part of the residence or otherwise on the privately owned residential land. However shared spaces of apartments, gated communities, or other shared spaces might be eligible assuming it otherwise meets criteria and is intended to be accessed by a community, even if not everyone. Easements, “right-of-ways,” and sidewalk are too broad to make a global statement on, but the guidance is the same as above - if it is part of a private residence, it is ineligible. IF evidence supports shared municipal use land, it is not ineligible.
- In this case, the object being nominated is on the outside wall of what looked to be an apartment or otherwise shared dwelling building and is a prominent artistic display. During the review, it looked like it was an official and permanent artistic display set up by the property manager and not an individual’s private collection. So yes, this is eligible and if reviewing, I would look at the title, description, and supporting information to get more of its story which would then determine the rating.
- In this case, while the dice look fun and may catch my eye while driving by, we decided the location is not intended to be accessed safely by pedestrians. There are no sidewalks and the grassy area looks like private property. Furthermore, any visitors to that grassy area may obstruct the entrance and it may encourage trespassing or present danger from the nearby traffic which makes us consider this ineligible.
- Free Little Libraries are eligible nominations. This submission and others like it questioned whether they are acceptable or not, but it’s a more nuanced than that. Again, they are eligible but this one here is tricky. While many Free Little Libraries are on a sidewalk outside of apartment buildings and are on municipal or communal property, this one is placed at the end of private property onto a street which makes it a potentially dangerous location. Similarly to the dice submission above, any visitors to this “sidewalk” or “car off-loading” area may encourage trespassing or create a dangerous traffic situation making it ineligible.
- This submission asked a great question. The main question here was how to determine the difference between a single family home and a multi-family home. While this isn’t always easy to tell, especially across different regions, there are signs you can look out for. Looking at the building for multiple entrances, different street numbers, shared post boxes, or other features may help distinguish whether it is or isn’t a shared residence. This is on a wall of a shared residence building, making the nomination of the animal art below the windows an eligible location.
- This submission was of the park in a shared use area of an apartment or condominium complex. Since these are not single family dwellings, these types of nominations are eligible and make great Wayspots. Remember that eligibility doesn’t equate to acceptance. The stories it tells matter too.
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(originally posted September 2022)