One of the first attempts to convert

One of the first attempts to convert a historic hamlet into a village with the help of a new urban plan is moving forward in Kent County, Maryland. Developer Carl Wright attended a wedding in Kentlands, the noted new urban development in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and was so impressed he decided to do a traditional neighborhood development. Wright then hooked up with Stuart Sirota, a former Knight Fellow and planner with Parsons Brinckerhoff. Sirota assembled a charrette team that included lead designers Michael Medick and Barry Mehaffey and planners Jennifer Hurley and Wil Selman. Young volunteers came from as far away as London, England, after Sirota put out a notice to the Next Generation group of the Congress for the New Urbanism. The 25-acre site is adjacent to the hamlet of Kennedyville, which consists of about 60 houses grouped near a crossroads. The site is within what the county calls a “village zone,” which is intended to preserve the existing village character. It allows a mix of uses and housing types; however, Sirota told New Urban News that the design team had to challenge some aspects of the code “to allow good new urban design to happen.” The 9,500 sq. ft. minimum lot size for detached houses and the 50-foot minimum street right of way posed design hurdles. The plan calls for 90 units — more than doubling the size of the hamlet. Some of the units are on alleys. The site includes a piece of land at the crossroads, where Wright is proposing a small commercial building designed to have a corner store — an amenity that the village lost years ago when the building was torn down for a parking lot. Also proposed is a small plaza near the crossroads to serve as a community gathering spot, Sirota says. For urban design precedents, the team looked at the nearby county seat, Chestertown, and hamlets in Kent County. “Our goal is the graceful expansion of a hamlet,” says Sirota. The plan is currently up for approval by the county. u