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New developments take advantage of neighborhood zoning
By Holly Fisher
Supplements Editor
The Gardens of Whitney Lake will have condos, townhouses and single-family homes in the midst of gardens, walking trails and some commercial businesses.
An idyllic sounding place to live, Whitney Lake is the first subdivision built with Charleston’s neighborhood district zoning.
Passed about two years ago, the neighborhood district zoning is the city’s attempt to provide better neighborhoods and to make better use of infill sites to combat urban sprawl, explained Christopher Morgan, interim director of the city’s Department of Planning and Neighborhoods.
By encouraging development within the city’s more urban boundaries, sprawl is reduced and more attractive subdivisions are developed. The neighborhood district requires a minimum of 30 acres as well as a mix of building types, meaning multi-family and single-family housing should be mixed with commercial and retail space.
Since there is no minimum lot size requirement, developers have the flexibility to create units where it makes the most sense and to work more easily within environmental constraints. They can preserve trees and build around usable greenspace.
In the neighborhood district, streets and outdoor public spaces are a first priority. Parks and centralized plazas are key to the neighborhood district. Residents should be able to walk throughout the neighborhood and to commercial developments, such as a general store, church, restaurant, dry cleaner or day care center. Tree-lined streets and sidewalks are an important component of the neighborhood district to encourage walking.
A great example of a neighborhood district is I’On in Mount Pleasant, Morgan said. “We’re not trying to make everywhere I’On. It’s not about expensive housing but diversity of housing.”
Simply implementing alleys and putting garages at the rear of the homes is an easy way to make the streets attractive for walking and can easily be done with affordable housing, Morgan pointed out.
Even though the neighborhood district has been on the zoning books for about two years, only recently have new developments started taking advantage of the classification. Morgan said there was a learning curve for engineers and developers.
“We’ve been building neighborhoods one particular way for 50 years,” he said. “We had to get engineers and developers to think in a different way.”
This year all the large new developments coming to Johns Island are neighborhood districts, Morgan said.
John Lisi, president of The Lisi Co., which is developing Whitney Lake, said his company already had been thinking about how to create a neighborhood community, so the neighborhood district zoning was a good fit.
“The idea is to create a community with a high degree of density, usable parks, a variety of housing types and commercial space,” Lisi said. “It affords people the opportunity to live and play in their community and minimizes their going outside of their community.”
Lisi’s development targets the 76% of people living in the city of Charleston who do not have children. Those people aren’t looking for large lots or lawns to mow. He noted this type of neighborhood development offers high density, yet provides many of the amenities that appeal to that demographic, he said.
Phase one of Whitney Lake has 234 residential lots, and residents are expected to begin moving into the development later this year. Full build out will take about six years, Lisi said. According to the development’s Web site, all 234 lots are sold, and there is a waiting list.
The Gardens of Whitney Lake, at about 160 acres, is located off Murraywood Road near River Road.
Other neighborhood district developments include the 111-acre Park on the Stono, located along River Road. The Shade Tree development is situated off Cane Slash Road. And Swygert’s Landing is off River Road near Brownswood Road.
A West Ashley development is targeted for the area near the intersection of Bees Ferry Road and Savannah Highway.
Holly Fisher is the supplements editor for the Business Journal. E-mail her at hfisher@charlestonbusiness.com.
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