Author: Harry Lassiter and Monica Quigley 08/04/2006 Email: harry@thelassitercompany.com mquigley@leylandalliance.co Website: http://www.warwick-grove.com CONGRESS OF NEW URBANISM GROUP TOURS WARWICK GROVE COMMUNITY TO SEE PRINCIPLES OF TRADITIONAL NEIGHBORHOOD DESIGN MATERIALIZE Warwick, NY ...Representatives of the New York/ New Jersey Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) Group met on July 31st to tour the traditional neighborhood development of Warwick Grove in Warwick, NY, and learn about the Vernon Town Center redevelopment project and a new Appalachian village resort in Vernon, NJ. Warwick Grove, developed by LeylandAlliance of Tuxedo, NY was the first stop on the tour. Jim Constantine, of the architectural firm Looney Ricks Kiss, organized the tour. CNU members met with Warwick Mayor Michael Newhard, Warwick Town Supervisor Michael Sweeton, LeylandAlliance Executive VP of Construction Lou Marquet and LeylandAlliance President Steve Maun for a guided walkthrough of the first phase of this award winning village neighborhood designed by New Urbanist planning firm, Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company. They were shown several blocks of completed homes, town homes and public spaces such as the Post Office Building and the Neighborhood Center, now under construction. Warwick Grove has become a destination for municipalities, developers, architects and town planners seeking to see the principles of New Urbanism come to reality in a well-planned neighborhood. The plan for Warwick Grove emphasizes new urban features such as human scale, a lively mix of housing types, small lots and a pedestrian-friendly atmosphere with tree-lined sidewalks and interconnected streets that encourage walking. It is organized around a village square with a nearby connection to the Main Street of the Village of Warwick, enabling residents to walk through the adjoining park to the Village center. The end result is distinctly anti-sprawl in concept. The Congress for the New Urbanism was founded in 1993 by a group of enthusiastic architects who had worked for years to create buildings, neighborhoods, and regions that provide a high quality of life for all residents, while protecting the natural environment. Today, CNU has over 2,300 members in 20 countries and 49 states. Federal cabinet secretaries (such as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Andrew Cuomo) and state governors (such as Maryland Governor Parris Glendening) are proud to call themselves New Urbanists, and are promoting policies to make cities and towns more livable than ever. CNU advocates the restructuring of public policy and development practices to support the restoration of existing urban centers and towns within coherent metropolitan regions. They stand for the reconfiguration of sprawling suburbs into communities of real neighborhoods and diverse districts, the conservation of natural environments, and the preservation of our built legacy. The ideas behind CNU's Charter have been gradually integrated into the curriculum at the top planning and architecture schools and there are now over 210 New Urbanist developments under construction or complete in the United States. Real estate in these developments often sells at a premium compared to conventional sprawl. Following Warwick Grove the tour continued on through the Black Creek Valley and into Vernon in Sussex County, New Jersey. |
