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Planner's experiment draws him to West Park Village
By LOGAN D. MABE © St. Petersburg Times, published October 8, 2000 WESTCHASE -- As an urban planner, Ray Chiaramonte knows about cutting-edge neighborhoods. Chiaramonte, assistant executive director of the Planning Commission, is such a fan of the neo-traditional neighborhood concept that he and his family lived in Disney's Celebration community near Orlando for four years. That meant a two-hour daily commute to and from his job in downtown Tampa, but the perks of life in Celebration were worth the sacrifice, Chiaramonte said. But now he has found that type of community a lot closer to his childhood home in northwest Hillsborough. Chiaramonte is moving to West Park Village, a new development next to Westchase that he affectionately calls, "Celebration West." "As a planner, in spite of all the Disney stuff, Celebration is the most complete new urbanist community in the country," said Chiaramonte. "Obviously, West Park Village will be smaller, but they've given the right attention to the right details. They've even done some things better than Celebration. The sidewalks are wider than Celebration's, they did nice street lighting, the town (shopping) center is conveniently located, and the apartments seem to be fitting in." West Park Village's traditional design is the first of its kind in Tampa Bay. With a grid-style layout, the homes have broad front porches, garages and alleys at the rear of homes and neighborhood parks. When completed, West Park Village will have about 500 single-family homes, villas and town homes. Townhome prices range from about $120,000 to $180,000. Attached villas, similar to duplex construction, cost $150,000 to $200,000. Single-family homes tange in price from $210,000 to $300,000. They will be situated around a town center that will have 45,000 square feet of retail shops, restaurants and offices topped my 60 upscale apartment homes. Another 280 apartments will be built along the area's "village green," which will feature children's interactive fountains, a gazebo with a stage and seating for gatherings. Those are the kinds of things that attracted the Chiaramontes to Celebration, and those same things sold them on West Park Village. "Initially when we went there (Celebration), it was kind of an experiment," Chiaramonte said. "I became enamored of them starting this community, and I thought it would be unique for a planner to live there. We planned to live there for a year. But after a year, my family didn't want to come back." At one point, the Chiaramontes decided to put their lifestyle to the test to see if they could replicate the experience in South Tampa. They borrowed a friend's home there for a week and quickly saw its shortcomings. "We decided we would try to walk to the schools, we would try to go Rollerblading, walk to the ice cream store, but it wasn't easy," he said. The sidewalks weren't well-suited for Rollerblading, and Chiaramonte's children couldn't cross Bayshore Boulevard by themselves to skate along the water. They needed to drive to the ice cream shop and schools. Only recently has Chiaramonte come to realize how much he and his family relied on pedestrian freedom. In July, they moved in with his in-laws in a 1950s-style subdivision in Egypt Lake while their home was being built. "The contrast has been interestingly extreme," Chiaramonte said. "I've gained 10 pounds, and I watch a lot more television. The first couple of weeks there, my son was going stir crazy because there was nowhere to walk." For Chiaramonte, moving to West Park Village has a prophetic irony to it. In 1997, he took a group of developers and county officials on a tour of Celebration, touting its back-to-basics design. One of the developers was Jack Rowlett, a manager with Terrabrook, the company developing West Park Village. Rowlett said Dallas-based Terrabrook had a large parcel of land in northwest Hillsborough and he would try to convince corporate brass to consider a Celebration-styled development. "I really feel they've ried to follow those principles," Chiaramonte said. -- Logan D. Mabe can be reached at 226-3464 or by e-mail at mabe@sptimes.com.
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