The growing municipality of Pike Road outside

The growing municipality of Pike Road outside of Montgomery, Alabama, approved in August a version of the SmartCode that will operate parallel to current zoning. The code was approved pending an annexation of The Waters, a large-scale TND in the early stages of construction, according to Nathan Norris, director of marketing and sales for NewTown Development, which is developing The Waters.

In September, another 400-acre project was designed by new urbanists in Pike Road, and is expected to be developed under the municipality’s SmartCode. The City of Montgomery is also looking at adopting a version of the SmartCode, Norris says. Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company conducted a charrette to design another sizable TND in Montgomery called Hampstead, being developed by Lowder New Homes — a firm that asked the city to adopt the code, Norris says.

Private sector demand is driving the adoption of the SmartCode in the Montgomery area, he explains. Meanwhile, 130 lots have been sold and 25 houses have been built in The Waters, which was scheduled to have its grand opening October 15. “That coincides with the Parade of Homes [sponsored by the regional Home Builders Association], but more importantly we wanted to wait until we had two blocks of homes built out on both sides of the street,” says Norris.