Changes at Seaside Institute and NTBA

The Seaside Institute will expand its services to developers, and the National Town Builders Association (NTBA) will focus more on public policy issues and lobbying. The changes follow the resignation of four of the five NTBA board of directors in July, and an agreement signed by both organizations that transfers several ongoing NTBA projects including a trade show and demonstration house to the Institute. The resigning NTBA board members were: architect/town planner Andres Duany, new urbanist developers Robert Chapman III and George Valanos, and William Morris, a sports/intellectual property agent and former historic preservation developer. Duany and Chapman have been board members since the inception of the organization. NTBA was founded in Washington DC in 1998 as a nonprofit developers’ trade group to help “town founders” overcome obstacles and implement best practices, and to lobby for new urbanist developers. The Seaside Institute — based in Seaside, Florida, the first new urban town — was founded in 1982 to promote the “ restoration of civic life.” It sponsors regular seminars covering various aspects of design and development of neighborhoods. The Institute is looking to expand its reach beyond the people who attend Seaside seminars (a maximum of about 800 a year), says Institute executive director Phyllis Bleiweis. “It boils down to splitting the education from the lobbying,” says Chapman, who explains that the NTBA will focus more on lobbying, while the Seaside Institute is an excellent vehicle for education. The trade show is tentatively scheduled for 2004, Bleiweis says. Some or all of the former NTBA board members will have a role in the Seaside Institute. Duany, who has led seminars at Seaside for many years — and who designed the town with his wife, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk — has a long-standing relationship with the institute. Morris is working closely with the institute on the trade show and demonstration house. Chapman and Valanos are to be involved with a planned Seaside Institute forum for new urbanist developers to exchange ideas and identify best practices. NTBA met August 12 and 13 to establish a new board. Two new urban developers and a development/political consultant were among those expected to join remaining board member Bruno Bottarelli, a developer based in Illinois. NTBA will still promote New Urbanism, says executive director Neil Takemoto, yet will do so by working with economic development agencies and focusing on the advantages of urban environments in attracting knowledge workers.