New Urbanism in the Hinterlands

Daily Journal
03/31/2007

TAYLOR - This Lafayette County art colony village that defines quaintness is going New Urban.

A five-minute walk from the "downtown" defined by the post office and the Taylor Grocery catfish restaurant, the Plein Air planned neighborhood is rising.

Several streets are outlined, six "traditional Southern small town vernacular" houses are nearing completion and negotiations are under way to secure a retail tenant. Despite the catfish place's name, it would be Taylor's first grocery in decades.

As Oxford bursts at the seams with new residents, both full- and part-time, Taylor was bound to feel the effects before long. In recent years new estates have popped up both in the village and along the two routes to Oxford. Builders also are busy with suburban-style subdivisions between the two towns.

Early last year, Plein Air's developers, Campbell McCool and Stewart Speed, endured heated opposition to their high-density, pedestrian-lifestyle development.

It didn't help that the partners gave their proposal the name "Main Street Taylor," but most critics focused on fears that the village would lose the character that has drawn potters, painters and writers to make it their home for the past three decades.

No doubt it will change the village. At the very least, Plein Air's 200 homes will more than double and possibly triple the population from its 2000 count of 289 people in 128 homes.

McCool, though, insists the development, now named for a 19th-Century French outdoor painting movement, can extend the village feel to new residents.

"I think the town's gotten behind it," he said. "I think once they saw we were doing what we promised, we won their trust."

Taylor resident Forrest Bryan agrees.

"Some people thought they were going to destroy the atmosphere of Taylor," he said. "It has been quite the opposite. I think Campbell has done a great job of keeping the neighborhood look and feel."

In contrast to much of the single-family residential development in Lafayette County, Plein Air goes against much of what defines suburban sprawl. Houses are less than 2,000 square feet, on lots small enough to converse from one front porch to another. Galvanized metal "tin" roofs evoke a distinct small-town feel.

"So many people have said, It's just like my grandmother's house,'" said sales director Leighton Mason.

Sidewalks will connect homes and with public areas - pocket parks, village green and retail shops. The soon-to-be-built bandstand will host concerts and other community events, including the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council's annual picnic May 19.

"That's what the New Urbanism is about," McCool said. "Talk to your next-door neighbors, walk down the street and have dinner or listen to a concert - the kinds of things people did before cars took over our lives."

Another traffic-minimizing vision of Plein Air is eventually to offer shuttle service to jobs, shopping and services in Oxford.

Considering its success in such upscale places as Seaside, Fla., and Memphis' Harbor Town development, it's not surprising that Taylor's New Urbanism comes at a price: The first six houses are listed at $233,000 to $293,000. Mason insists prospective residents will find the amenities worth the initial cost.

"This concept appeals to couples, singles, retirees, Ole Miss professors and families with children," Mason said. "We've had all kinds of people looking."