New Urbanism setback for top builder

Pulte Homes’ Florida region remains committed to trying New Urbanism after Salamanca’s defeat. Pulte Homes, the nation’s largest home builder, has struggled for three years to get approval for Salamanca, a 160-acre traditional neighborhood development (TND) with 1,140 units planned for West Kendall, Florida. Pulte’s hopes were dashed on November 4, when the Miami-Dade County Commission killed the project in a 7-to-4 vote. In the last of more than 30 hearings on Salamanca, the commission vote upheld the June decision by a local community council to turn down zoning approval for the project. Vocal West Kendall residents worried that Salamanca’s density would generate too much traffic in an already congested area. Opponents of the project maintained that the TND could not be self-sufficient without a school, and their arguments swayed the commission. “We’re very disappointed,” says president of Pulte’s Florida region Larry Comegys. “It was a good project in a very good location, in the urban area in the country that probably needs it the most.” Pulte has not given up on the New Urbanism, however. While declining to talk about specific future projects, Comegys says discussions on other TNDs are underway and adds that Pulte is committed to working within the goals of smart growth. “The New Urbanism is at the center of smart growth, although it’s certainly not the only solution.” Salamanca would have included a main street/town center, alleys, small neighborhood greens, and a central lake with public waterfront access. Salamanca represented a major departure for Pulte, which specializes in conventional suburban subdivisions. The project has a gross density of just over seven units an acre, which is higher than surrounding suburban projects in West Kendall. Pulte claimed that a somewhat higher density was necessary to pay for added costs and risks associated with TND. Dade County has the oldest TND ordinance in the United States, adopted in 1991. This ordinance has never been successfully used, and Salamanca was the first major test case. Kendall’s commissioner Miguel Diaz De La Portilla, who led the motion to deny approval, has argued that Salamanca was a great project in the wrong location and that the TND would have exacerbated the traffic problems in the area. Nevertheless, De La Portilla has expressed hope that another TND can be built on the site, albeit at a lower density acceptable to neighbors. Commission Chair Gwen Margolis voted for approval of Salamanca and rejects the notion that the project was in the wrong place. Referring to the project’s neighbors, Margolis says: “They had no concept that more density does not necessarily create more traffic.” Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, of Duany Plater-Zyberk, the firm that designed Salamanca, told the Miami Herald that she was dismayed that “the first real opportunity” to set a new pattern for development had been turned down. “It’s embarrassing,” she said.