Photos: October 1998

Text prepared by Robert B. Kramer, AIA, in 1996

Town Founders: The Fleeman Family, Matthew Kaskel and Robert B. Kramer

Architects and Town Planners: Robert B. Kramer and Matthew Kaskel

Haile Village Center is a traditional neighborhood center within the 1700 acre development of regional impact known as Haile Plantation in Alachua County. Haile Plantation is one of the seven exemplary communities cited in Best Development Practices published by the Joint Center for Environmental and Urban Problems for the Florida Department of Community Affairs and has been selected as the 1996 winner of the Successful Community Award by the 1000 Friends of Florida based on neo-traditional design incorporating greenways and a functional village center. In March of 1996 the Lt. Governor and five cabinet officers involved in growth management in Florida visited the Haile Village Center and made statements to the media suggesting that the Haile Village Center represented a model for growth in Florida based on having "successfully balanced the needs of its residential, business and environmental communities."

In 1995 the Florida Realtors Association awarded the Haile Plantation its Envy Award based on the "environmentally friendly" aspects of the development.

The City of Gainesville Beautification Board just recently recognized Haile Village Center with the Wilbur H. Harling Memorial Award for outstanding urban planning and exemplary civic design.

The Haile Village Center is a traditional neighborhood planned according to the principles of New Urbanism. Homes within the neighborhood are planned to be within a five minute walk of the Village green, shops and offices. Homes within the Village Center are permitted to have garage apartments and home occupations including bed and breakfast inns. Over thirty businesses, many with residential units above, including a restaurant, dry cleaners, day care and preschool, dentist, post office, hair salon and professional offices are already open. A corner-store market [was scheduled to] open in May of 1996. The development of the fourth phase is nearing completion and the town hall, a bed and breakfast inn and more retail, professional offices and residential units [were] planned for 1996.

Haile Plantation has been under development for about 15 years and has a population of approximately 4000. While much of the planning of Haile Plantation was done in the 1970's with the typical PUD street patterns, a functional village center was anticipated and fortunately the overall planning and market acceptance has evolved so that most of the neighborhoods are connected at least through pedestrian connections to the Village Center. A recently annexed 550 parcel has been planned as four traditional neighborhoods each with a neighborhood center and the first phase is under development.

Back to the Walkable Streets home page.

.

.