Sustainable Land Development Today - November/December 2008 - (Page 31)

Visionary Awards diminish since the 1950s. The community was saddled with an outdated and dilapidated water and sewer infrastructure system which resulted in insufficient fire protection and discharges of untreated raw sewage into surface water. ready borne fruit by breathing new life into the area. The downtown shopping district has seen a dramatic revival; abandoned store fronts now are home to new retail, infill lots are being constructed with mixed-use projects and streetscape improvements have been installed. “This community is a perfect example of how sustainable developments can be beneficial to both developers and the communities they build in,” McKnight said. “The redevelopment of a dilapidated property not only was profitable for the developer, but it was also the catalyst for the rebirth of Swedesboro.” had to coordinate with 29 reviewing agencies to receive final approval of WaterColor,” he said. That process, which was completed in March 1999, resulted in a project with large open spaces, pedestrian and vehicular connectivity, habitat restoration, and significant wetland buffers. Stormwater ponds were created as enhanced wetlands located adjacent to the existing wetland areas, and a vehicular and a pedestrian bridge was built across a coastal-dune-lake tributary to provide connectivity throughout the development. “Eighty acres of beachfront was set aside to create a habitat for the endangered Choctawhatchee Beach Mouse,” Jones said. The natural dune system has been kept in place along the coastline to preserve and protect the development and associated facilities during hurricanes. The master plan for the project features a compact design for residential areas with a mix of single-family and multifamily residential types. There’s convenient access to village-style commercial elements which offer top-floor, and multifamily residential units. Recreational facilities and a system of multi-purpose trails that offer vistas of the Gulf of Mexico and Western Lake highlight the project. “WaterColor was planned and designed with conservation and preservation in mind,” Jones said. “The developers and planners used minimal manmade features to enhance the already abundant natural amenities in order to create a sustainable community.” The project is scheduled for completion in December of 2009. SLDT “Local officials had jokingly stated that the infrastructure had been installed at the turn of the century—the 19th century not the 20th,” said Lawrence McKnight, land development manager for Westrum Development Company. “Our firm is a strong believer in sustainable developments and actively seeks properties that are detrimental to a community and in desperate need of revitalization.” An agreement between the town and the developer involved the remediation and re-development of the site’s abandoned greenhouse property into a residential development of 140 lots. Onsite, buildings needed to razed and six-above ground and five-underground storage tanks had to be removed. There was also asbestos abatement and arsenic-impacted soil to be excavated. Off the site, the agreement called for the repair and replacement of more than a mile of the borough’s sewer mains and a half-mile of water mains plus the installation of additional fire hydrants, additional connections, a sanitary pump station, upgrades to the existing borough pump station, and associated utilities, sidewalk and stormwater management features. In exchange, the borough rezoned the property to allow townhomes, which added housing density and increasing revenues to offset the infrastructure costs. Begun in February 2006, the Village at Spring Ridge is near completion. It has al- Project: WaterColor Location: Walton County, Florida Owner/Developer: The St. Joe Co./PBS&J Located on 499 acres of northwest Florida coastline, Watercolor is a mixeduse development that hosts over 1,000 residential units, a 60-room resort hotel and 100,000 square feet of commercial and retail property. But perhaps its hallmark is the way it has been integrated into a sensitive environment. Adjoining the Town of Seaside, the rare coastal dune lakes of Grayton Beach State Park and Point Washington State Forest, the development faced significant challenges to find a way to co-exist with endangered species and wetland habitat. Over half of the project has been permanently set aside for conservation, according to Ken Jones, vice president/principal technical professional for PBS&J. “During the 20-month entitlement process, we www.SLDTonline.com 31 http://www.SLDTonline.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Sustainable Land Development Today - November/December 2008

Sustainable Land Development Today - November/December 2008 Contents Our Voice Editorial Board SLDT Resources The BottomLine Go Forth and Tread Lightly on the Land It’s About Name Recognition Managing Risk in the Sustainable Building Frontier Industry Spotlight Achieving Sustainable Land Development Worthy of Recognition Stormwater Wastewater Erosion Control Innovation Classifieds Advertiser Index Last Word

Sustainable Land Development Today - November/December 2008

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