ABSTRACT
The real estate market has responded to outmoded development regulations by creating a suburban development template that has become the default suburban design across the entire United States. Farms and woodlands have given way to uniform residential subdivisions extending for miles in every direction. Suburban highways are lined with long, narrow strips of commercial development. In Wildwood, Missouri, the residents seceded from St. Louis County to escape from this kind of development and needed a new master plan to support a different set of development regulations. Wildwood's grading and tree-preservation ordinances are backed up by the Environmental Element in the Master Plan. Code provisions for new streets were rewritten to protect the natural environment, reviewed as part of the subdivision approval process. Approval of the town-center-specific plan signaled Wildwood's intention to rezone to accommodate the kinds of commercial and higher-density residential uses called for in the plan as an alternative to strip commercial zoning along highways. The Architectural Review Board advises developers and the Planning Commission during the approval process. Similar strategies are within reach of many other suburban communities.
