The innovative design of Jamestown Square, a 42-home subdivision in this northern Utah community, is being hailed as a model for future residential developments.
Planners envisioned a neighborhood that functions like a small town. Neighbors know each other by name and form a committee in which everyone has a say in how the neighborhood is operated.Jamestown Square is shaped like a horseshoe with no through roads, almost enclosing the neighborhood. The homes connect to a walkway that leads to a common park filled with ponds, trees and bushes.
The low-maintenance homes are built with similar material - light colored red bricks, gray stucco and white vinyl - to give the area a common theme.
Owners can choose from 11 designs, and floor plans can vary, said developer James Brough of Kaysville's Brough Realty.
The driveways, sidewalks and lawns are maintained by a contractor selected by the neighborhood committee.
The more maintenance performed by the contractor, the more efficient it is for the city to serve the community, said Scott Carter, community development director of neighboring Layton.
He would like to see such subdivisions in Layton, not solely for the money the city would save. Crime, for instance, is lower in the community-style neighborhoods because the residents know each other, look out after one another and can spot a stranger.
Children can play in parks instead of streets, and every inch of land benefits the whole subdivision, he said.
"It's not all cut up with individual lots with fenced-in yards. It creates an open atmosphere," Carter said.
Layton currently doesn't have planned neighborhoods such as Jamestown, but one is on its way.
Pete Chambers of Derby Homes in Layton plans to break ground in January for the Victorian Village. It's the same concept as the Jamestown neighborhood taken one step further.
The Victorian Village will hold 100 homes with a pool, playground and clubhouse. Plans include three access roads, one from Gentile and two from King Street, in which cars will drive to covered parking in the back of the homes.
The front of the homes will face each other and a common park.
Where Jamestown attracts mostly elderly people with its two-bedroom, one-story homes, the Victorian Village will serve families of varying incomes with four-bedroom, two-story homes.
The estimated price range will be $98,000 to $135,000, Chambers said.