First a 2,300-acre nature preserve — the Anne

First a 2,300-acre nature preserve — the Anne Springs Close Greenway — was established to protect the old farming and textile town of Fort Mill, South Carolina, from the encroaching sprawl of metropolitan Charlotte, North Carolina. Then crews started building Baxter Village, a traditional neighborhood development that calls for an eventual 1,325 homes and nearly 600 acres of open space. And this spring, ground was broken for Baxter Village’s 70-acre town center — a downtown that will include 500,000 square feet of commercial, retail, and residential space by May 2004. All of these are parts of a long-term strategy employed by the Close family — an upcountry South Carolina farming and industrial dynasty. The Clear Springs Development Company, owned by the Close family, is combining environmental stewardship and traditional neighborhood design into a planned community of 20,000 people. Baxter Village is the community’s initial development. Leading the day-to-day implementation is Clear Springs CEO Dan Killoren of Celebration Associates, a consulting firm of former Disney executives who worked on Celebration, Florida. Consultants from Urban Design Associates in Pittsburgh examined upcountry South Carolina to find patterns that would tie the new development to the region’s historic character. LandDesign of Charlotte is responsible for the overall land-use plan.