West Villages Improvement District: What is the West Villages?

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The City of North Port has entered into a unique partnership with the private sector through the adoption of the Village District Pattern Planning process. By adopting the Village Land Use Classification and the Village District Pattern Book, the City has examined, and in some cases altered, public policies having the power to influence community design. The City finds it important to examine the cost, benefit, and function of public infrastructure and how these investments might best be planned and built to support the City's vision of sustainability and inclusiveness. The West Villages Village District Pattern Book was crafted to establish a broad community framework within which the private sector can express itself in the building of sustainable Villages, Neighborhoods, and Town Centers.

The West Villages consists of approximately 8,000 acres of annexed land, and shall be developed consistent with the Village Index Map as indicated in the Pattern Book. The Village Index Map is intended to illustrate general locations for future villages, village centers, the town center, and primary roadways.

Current Villages

Village A consists of eight neighborhoods, seven of which are located within Gran Paradiso. Neighborhood 8 is known as The Preserve. Each neighborhood contains one or two neighborhood centers within easy walking distance. Village A provides internal recreational amenities and gathering places for residents, adjacency to a mixed-use future village center, adjacency to a future mixed-use town center, an internal roadway and pathway system that supports and encourages non-vehicular transportation, and connection to an external roadway and pathway system that supports and encourages non-vehicular transportation.

Village B contains two distinct neighborhoods as shown in the Pattern Plan. These neighborhoods, separately known as The Renaissance and The Oasis, are designed to be low density residential communities consisting of single-family attached, detached homes, and multi-family. A predominate neighborhood feature is the sidewalk and multi-modal trail network which will link each neighborhood to neighborhood centers, open space tracts, and the future Village Center. These features facilitate citizen interaction by linking village neighborhoods with on-site and adjacent amenities and facilities. These trails will also provide residents with connectivity to the natural environment.

Village C has four neighborhoods in its development area. This village is known as Islandwalk at the West Villages. There are five neighborhood centers spread throughout the four neighborhoods. The Village designers envisioned an interconnected system of neighborhoods linked with generously-wide pedestrian pathways. These pathways are adjacent to the Village’s conservation tracts and lake areas. The pathways and lakes create an abundance of outdoor areas available for Village residents’ use. The design of the residential units does not restrict water views to just those adjacent to these features but essentially creates properties with dual front lawns; one facing streets and the other facing water features.

Village D, "Main Street Village District"
Village D is envisioned as a vibrant mixed use Town Center that includes a broad mix of retail, commercial, hotel, recreational, office and residential uses. The Proposed Village District Plan for Village D includes four mixed use areas located along the US 41 corridor and West Villages Parkway, which will contain a broad mix of uses, and is envisioned as the primary focus of the more intensive commercial uses. The plan includes one mixed use residential neighborhood, which may include a mix of office, retail, and residential uses. The plan also includes one residential neighborhood, which allows for a range of residential unit types. There is a purposeful transition in intensity from north to south and east to west. The transition is intended to ensure compatibility with the existing village of Islandwalk, to the west, as well as future development to the south and southeast.

Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate