Form-Based Codes Institute at Smart Growth America

St. Lucie County: Towns, Villages and Countryside

St. Lucie County Courthouse

Growth pressure on a 28-square-mile agricultural area near Fort Pierce resulted in the county’s “Towns, Villages and Countryside” plan in 2004. The plan calls for existing development rights to be concentrated in new villages surrounded by conserved farmland. A unique form-based code was later adopted to implement this plan; unlike most such codes, it was adopted prior to the design of individual villages. The code provides explicit standards, including minimum percentages of the land that will remain as “countryside” and assignment of develop-able land into transect zones. Developers must create a regulating plan for each proposed village, identifying specific transect zones while assigning street types and lot types according to prototypes in the code. The county commission approves each regulating plan through a PUD-like rezoning process. The TVC plan and code provide an excellent example of a regional form-based code.

Adoption Date: May 30, 2006

 

Code Documents:

https://formbasedcodes.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/st-lucie-tvc-code.pdf

Code Documents

Code Categories

Physical Contexts:
Organizing Principles:
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Special Features:
None
Driehaus Awards:
Award Recipient
Year: 2007
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