We started our neighborhood design specifically trying to break away from the traditional American model of housing developments. Instead, we want to have a small community where we interact with our neighbors frequently and where we live in modest homes with shared community facilities.
Ross Chapin is a renowned architect who coined the term “Pocket Neighborhood” His book, Pocket Neighborhoods has given us many ideas and guidance in our neighborhood development. We think will be a desirable model for us to pursue. Here is a link to his website: Pocket Neighborhoods Creating Small Scale Community in a Large Scale World. Marla has purchased a copy of the book which is being shared (passed around) in our group.
Here are a few ideas from other communities: In most neighborhoods, the houses are smaller and clumped together to allow for maximum shared spaces. Notice that parking is centralized and walking is encouraged.
After many discussions, we decided that we do not want apartment building style homes, nor clumps of multiple adjoining houses. We started with the idea that each family will own their own house and land, as well as a share in all the common areas. We slowly found that if every home was detached, we would lose most of our trees. We then decided to cluster some of the homes to fit our houses in among the existing mature trees. Our 7 models of houses were specifically designed to fit into available spaces between trees.
Our site plan has been through more than 12 different versions as we strive to design and build our ideal community … within the limitations of County design regulations … and the realities of our unique site.
Harmony Terrace of Tampa Bay 