A charrette was held in May, 1998, to

A charrette was held in May, 1998, to design Miles Point, an 89-acre traditional neighborhood development (TND) in St. Michael’s, Maryland. Representatives of the developer, the Midland Companies of Washington, D.C., and the design firm, Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company (DPZ) of Miami, Florida, met during the charrette with an influential citizens group called the St. Michael’s Preservation Coalition. The group is known for its resistance to growth and energetic defense of historic buildings in the 300-year-old town. The following exchange took place, according to attendees of the meeting: A man from the preservation group stood up and addressed the development team in a belligerent tone. “This is all a crock of s_ _ _,” he said. “The developer comes into town and tells you how nice the project is going to be, and then ends up building s_ _ _. I’m a developer and I’ve built s_ _ _ all my life.” Architect Andres Duany, who is used to emotional public meetings but is nevertheless taken aback by this tirade, responded “Sir, we do not build s_ _ _.” The man continued, “I’ve been all around the country, and the only development I’ve seen that is any good is on the Panhandle of Florida.” Duany grabbed a book with a picture of Seaside on the cover and held it up. “Is this what you are talking about?” he asked. “Yeah, that’s it,” the man said. “Sir, we designed that development,” said Duany. “Oh,” said the flabbergasted citizen. “ Then I’m all for this project.” Miles Point, a 375-unit TND with retail, civic buildings, a 3,000-foot-long public waterfront and multiple squares and plazas within a five-minute walk of homes, is now going through an approval process that is expected to take about six months. The developers and designers point to a key document, Managing Maryland’s Growth, put together in 1994 by the Maryland Office of Planning and the University of Maryland School of Architecture, which helped to sway public opinion during the charrette. The document describes in detail the characteristics of the state’s historic settlements and how similar places can be built today. “It gave us a lot of credibility,” says Gary Modjeska of the Midland Companies. “When somebody questioned part of the plan, we could point to some page in the book. We weren’t just coming in writing our own rules.” The developer distributed 30 copies of the 106-page document during the charrette — and at one point, someone was dispatched to Baltimore to pick up extra copies.