Developer sells "New Ruralism"

[bobliocatt]

Jacksonville-based, St. Joe Co, which owns 800,000 inland acres in the Pandhandle has began pushing a concept, they call "New Ruralism". They hope to entice city and suburban dwellers who are tired of civilization, who long to own things like a tractor, kayak or large dogs on residential sites ranging from 5 to 20 acres a piece.

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...1001/BUSINESS03

[Rock2uf]

Hmmmm,

Interesting, indeed.

[I-275westcoastflorida]

People with money can do anything so i guess thats possible or even already in progress. But the strange thing is this concept isnt new at all go out in the country and you see acres of land then a nice house, and more acres. Driving outside of dallas i saw this and some big mansions with alot of land. Some people like being out so far from cities

[Viper]

The only thing new about it is it's rarely ever marketed/advertised on a grand scale so this will stand out because of that.

[ironchapman]

They hope to entice city and suburban dwellers who are tired of civilization, who long to own things like a tractor, kayak or large dogs on residential sites ranging from 5 to 20 acres a piece. 

Seems more like "Suburban Atlanta-ism" fitted to the Panhandle and with out a major metro attached.

[csmurphy8885]

I grew up on forty acres... i was never in danger of drive by's, but snakes kill too. I had a 2 hour bus ride 2 times a day in highschool. I talked alot in class because once i went home, there were no other kids, no nieghborhood. Whnever we ran out of milk, we had a 20 min drive to the nearest publix. I can not remember exactly what the other possitives might have been. But i have a funny re-affirmation of my found-Urbanism. LOL. St. Joe is creating the perfect YIN to the Urbanist's YANG. Now at least there is something i suppose for everyone.

[I-275westcoastflorida]

^ that sucks i grew up in apartments thats why i like single family homes more guess its the circle of life

[Chemmie]

Once the yuppies move out and decide they miss their Starbucks and Target, they're gonna be begging developers to come out there and build. "New Ruralism" will just become more suburban sprawl.

[Florida]

^The above were my thoughts exactly... this "New Ruralism" is nothing but a way for St. Joe land company to sell off pieces of property it can't get the permitting to build something more profitable on. They own 20,000-50,000 more acres here in Leon County and already we're seeing some of this property sold off to independent buyers either beacuse, (1) the land is non-continuous, (2) it lies in some sort of wetland or floodplain, (3) its not zoned for high density development.

Of course this is merely my suggestion, but based on their marketing campaign, it seems as if they are admiting this. They put far too much emphasis on "Use your imagination"... because they know its going to take alot to use what they are selling these people.

[atlrvr]

I'm not opposed to this if they would put non-development easements on these properties......something that will protect this land from ever being developed at a density greater than 1 house per 5 acres......the result will be that urban areas will become denser and non-urban areas will be preserved.....It's the not urban, not-rural subdivisons of .5-1 acre lots that really do so much damage.

[csmurphy8885]

gas prices = closer convieniences. it will happen. I doubt even permitting could prevent the inevitable. permiting maps change. i am a fan of the infill... lets save something for our kids to destroy!!!

[Florida]

What people need to understand is, the more we spread ourselves, the more we sprawl. You've got to have the roads, and the schools, and the firestations, and the law enforcement, and the waste management, and the utilities such as cable, lights, and phone, and you've got to have a place nearby to buy food, like a Publix, or in some cases a Super Wal-Mart (a store I despise).

You can't run from the cities anymore, because these days, everyone needs them. In my opinion, you'd have to be stupid, or live a very simple life to be able to seperate yourself from an Urban area. New Ruralism... my foot!

[Aessotariq]

ugghh... I cringe at the thought of how many more miles of utilities have to be run to service so few people, with more densely populated areas generally having to subsidize that cost as well. And the impact fees are barely (if at all) commensurate with the actual costs of providing service out there anyway.

[Jaybee]

This is less "new rualism", and more ex-urban development. With the rise of gas prices, this 90's phenom will be quickly going out of style. They are just capitalizing on the catch phrase of new urbanism.

But then again, I think it was Frank Lloyd Wright thought that every man (no women in his hypothesis) should have an acre of land.