Back to the Future Amelia Park

Working From New Patterns

Past development patterns for our coastal communities
have resulted in:

Too many people in sensitive or hazardous areas.
Serious public safety concerns for hurricane evacuation.
Environmental degradation.
Too few links between land use, transportation and coastal resource protection.
A loss of community quality of life. We need to change the way we plan our communities to avoid past mistakes. There are communities using innovative planning techniques to help protect coastal resources while providing for development and a community spirit. These communitites could be used as examples by local officials throughout Florida.

I grew up in a small town in the early 1960s. I knew all my neighbors, both children and adults, and they knew me. You couldn't get away with anything in my neighborhood, because a grown-up was bound to see you from the front porch swing and report to your parents. Beginning at the age of six, I was sent to the corner store with money and a note from my mother. The grocer, the barber next door and the policeman on the beat all knew my name, and the name of just about every

Designing with Nature
Amelia Island Plantation
Visiting Amelia Island Plantation, a residential and resort community encompassing 1,250 acres of a northeast Florida barrier island, is like walking through a park. The roads curve through live oak forests, their graceful branches forming a dark green canopy overhead. Bicycle and pedes-trian paths cries-cross the narrow lanes. Florida has its share of master-planned development on the coast. What makes Amelia Island Plantation different is that it is a large-scale development that was built on the design principles espoused by lan McHarg in his book, Design With Nature. The site's ecosystems were examined, and buildings were carefully placed to blend with the natural contours of the land. Foliage was preserved so the dune system could retain its natural functions. Man-made structures were designed with forms, colors and textures that complement the natural environment. Everything was planned and constructed to co-exist with nature, not to dominate it.

other kid in town. I walked to school, to Girl Scouts, to friends' houses and to the town pool. There was a sense of community in my small town, as there was in small towns across America. People knew and respected one another. Whether farmer or store owner, they also understood the cycles of nature. That respect for neighbors and understanding of the ebb and flow of natural systems was especially important to people in the communities that once dotted Florida's coast. Many of the people who lived in these coastal towns made their living from the sea, and understood its ways. They knew the effects of hurricanes and other tropical storms. They could see the impact of their actions on coastal ecosystems. Today, many of Florida's coastal towns have grown to be large cities. Kids don't walk anywhere. Almost everyone drives to work, to the grocery store, to shopping malls, even to the convenience store for milk. People know only their immediate neighbors. The development frenzy that took over America after World War II resulted in lots of nameless, faceless subur-ban development. The kind where everything was the same, where people were increasingly segregated by age and income. In many coastal communities, the natural functions of coastal habitats-barrier islands and sandy beaches, coastal marshes, mangroves and estuaries-were ignored. High rise condominiums crowded the shoreline, coastal marshlands and mangrove forests were razed to make way for commercial developments, and industrial parks grew along the banks of bays and inlets. The potential effects of hurricanes were disregarded.
The double challenges of recapturing a sense of community and respecting the forces that shape our coastal areas are being met by innovative developers

Where’s the Beach?
One issue many communities struggle with as they work to protect their beaches and dunes is public access. In some areas, it seems that even if you can see the beach, you can't get there. Allowing space for parking and easy access to public beaches can be a challenge. In many areas, well-marked boardwalks leading from parking lots through mangroves or dune systems are an important part of the answer.

What you can do:

When you visit the beach, use public parking lots and boardwalks if they're provided.
Encourage your local government to provide adequate public access to community beaches.

in a number of Florida communities. One is Amelia Park, a 106-acre development in the coastal community of Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island. Plans for this new town call for a mix of uses and neighborhoods peppered with shops and parks. Houses will be set along narrow, pedestrian-friendly streets dined by trees, sidewalks and picket fences. People will be able to walk to shops, restaurants, and the local YMCA. The developer relied heavily on the use of "traditional neighborhood design" and on community input. The result was a land-use plan where affordable housing will be provided in apartments above retail stores and garage apartments behind many of the houses, and where the needs of elder residents have been given special consideration. Hurricane evacuation was taken into account in planning transportation routes. A central stormwater management system was designed to minimize flooding and avoid sheetflow across ecosystems. Amelia Park is one of several coastal communities, including Seaside in Walton County and Jordan Commons in Homestead, that are being designed to meet the needs of both people and ecosystems. That's a concept whose time has come. Again.

Smart Living in the Panhandle
Coastal communities all over Florida are finding they can accommodate growth, conserve coastal ecosystems and keep their individual character and special places. The key is careful planning. In the Panhandle's Walton County, the 12-member Walton County Conservation and Development Trust spent two years planning this coastal area's future. One of the group's toughest challenges was accounting for the needs of a population that ranged from fourth-generation residents to newcomers. But with citizen input they found common ground, and realized that their desires were not so different after all. The bottom line: everyone wanted a sustainable community, one that would meet not just their needs, but the needs of their children and grandchildren. That means planning not just where growth will happen, but where it won't as well. In coastal communities, that means paying special attention to the potential effects of hurricanes and other storms, and recognizing that coastal habitats are different than uplands. Beaches and dune systems must be left in their natural state to protect people as well as wildlife from the effects of storms. Mangroves, marshes and estuaries need protection from the effects of stormwater runoff. Structures should be carefully constructed to withstand damage from storms.

Important lessons
Some lessons learned along the way include:

The key to creating communities (rather than developments) is a design that depends less on automobiles and more on a traditional neighborhood approach. People want to be able to walk to the store, or a neighborhood restaurant. They want front porches, sidewalks, and community gathering-places where kids can play and neighbors can meet and talk.
New technologies offer incredible opportunities for gathering and sharing information. Geographic information mapping systems (GIS) make information about land use very accessible. Computer access through the Internet puts information right at people's fingertips.
Sustainable communities need sustainable natural environments. The key to protecting the environment is not to look at individual species, but to focus on natural communities or ecosystems.
One piece of Walton County's plan is the development of a greenwa network. This system of interco nected parks, green corridors an open spaces will allow residents and visitors to walk, ride a bicycl or horse, canoe and kayak from one park to the next.

What you can do:

Contact your local county and city governments and find out where they are in the comprehensive planning process. There are many opportunities for citizen input. Get involved!
Investigate your community's local plan to see how coastal resources will be protected and managed.
Look into the work of and support nonprofit groups committed to preserving natural resources, greenways and sound planning.
Stay informed about developments planned in your community.