Smart Growth Community 'urbanizes' suburbs in town

A once-fertile farmland, vacant for years, will be productive again when dotted with hundreds of homes striving to imitate the feel of a big city.\nThe historic 80-acre plot of land now known as Ramsey Farm will be transformed into a Smart Growth Community, which will hold 400 homes, a shopping square and green spaces for its residents.\nThe term "smart growth" is a planning design, which has been endorsed by the Environmental Protection Agency as a sustainable living environment. Building in an area where the basic infrastructure is already in place is a key factor in implementing a Smart Growth Community. To increase interaction among the residents, the garages will be placed in the back of the homes, and most of the houses will have front porches close to the sidewalks lining the streets and parks. \nWininger Stolberg Homes invested $3.5 million in Ramsey Farm and will name the community Renwick after one of the Ramsey brothers. The Ramsey family moved from South Carolina because their religious beliefs chafed against the practice of slavery in the middle of 19th century. The farm was used as an underground railroad stop for fugitive slaves and also has roots in the history of IU -- most of the Ramsey family attended IU seminary. \nThe developer predicts the property will appeal to people 50 years and older. The population of Bloomington is not expected to increase with the completion of Renwick because city officials forsee residents shifting from their older homes to purchase the newer homes of Renwick, the developer said in a statement. \nRenwick Smart Growth Community is dubbed "concentrated suburbia." The goal is to prevent sprawl into the more rural farming area, according to the developer's statement.. The neighborhood will rely on pedestrian traffic and public transportation as a way to alleviate traffic congestion at Hillside and Moore's Pike. Many of the opposing issues surround traffic concerns.\n"Right now there isn't even a stop sign at the end of my street, and it takes an exorbitant amount of time for me to get out," said Mirka Berkvam, a home owner whose residence is located off Hillside Drive. "When they build Renwick, no one is going to be able to get out to go to work at all."\nAt a preliminary hearing at the beginning of this month, the city commissioners were asked to provide a meeting to address only the traffic concerns. \nSycamore Knolls is the neighborhood which presently surrounds Ramsey Farm. The developers have been in contact with the residents since May 2003 to ease the transition from farm to Renwick. \nJan Lamm, president of Sycamore Knolls' neighborhood association, said, "This development is a reality. We're really counting on our elected officials to work with us to come up with the best case scenario in regards to traffic."\nWith the building of Renwick, the storm drainage network will be seriously revisited. The current system allows runoff to flood into the yards of the homes in Sycamore Knolls. There is a hope that when the developers build Renwick, the problem will be corrected and the established residents will benefit from the new community.\nAnother bonus Wininger Stolberg Homes is giving to the people of both Renwick and the surrounding communities is the expansion of Southeast Park from nine acres to 16. \nThe Growth Policy Plan of the city of Bloomington is directly addressed by the vision of Renwick Smart Growth Community. The GPP encourages builders to concentrate their properties and designs when adding homes to the Bloomington area. The urbanized feel the city and the developers are trying to achieve will increase environmental efficiency and promote face-to-face interaction between members of its community.\nKathy Kroxton, public relations for Wininger Stolberg Homes said, "The concentration of the community will spark and facilitate social interaction. This will be a community of people urbanized and connected."\n-- Contact staff writer Allison Ricket at aricket@indiana.edu.