How to Design a Rural Cluster

Locate the roads adjoining the proposed rural cluster. The cluster development should connect with all adjacent roads. The municipality may require you to add turn lanes, depending on the number of households in the proposed development.

Determine the attributes of the property. Rural clusters are designed to maximize the amount of open or arable land while providing the convenience of suburban living. Do not design buildings on the best acreage for convenience, if it is better for farming or park space. Instead, outline a central space in the property that can have access to neighboring roads, but is buffered by surrounding land. Treat existing streams, slopes and ridges as scenic attributes and trace out a street grid or modified grid that follows the form of the land and calls out the existing scenery.

Define a convenient, relatively level portion of land in the center of the proposed cluster area. This space will be the common or central square of the rural cluster. Draw a street around the common space and connect or modify the street grid traced in Step 2. The streets should not exceed 40 feet in width and should include 10-foot setbacks on either side for planting strips and sidewalks, creating a 60-foot-wide public corridor. Except for the central common, the blocks created by the streets should be narrow, with a row of small properties less than 1/5 acre on each side of the block.

Place larger, higher density structures around the common and require the lower story of structures to be used for retail or commercial purposes. In addition, place the multifamily residences, such as townhomes and condominiums, near or overlooking the common. Leave one or two properties around the common for public structures, such as a town hall, swim facility, public toilets or cluster administrative offices. All buildings must have zero or minimal setbacks to create a street wall and encourage community interaction.

Place single-family dwellings beyond the multifamily residences. Minimize use of cul-de-sacs, however provide narrower streets, beyond the main corridor, to slow traffic. All blocks must have sidewalks, as well as amenities, such as street lights, benches and waste cans.

Ensure the cluster provides ample depth to the buffer or farm-able land. Narrow swaths of land do not insulate the community, nor are they functional for cultivation. Develop a method to protect the size of the properties and the surrounding land with documents, such as ordinances, standards or covenants. However, be moderate with prescriptions and proscriptions for requirements to allow the rural cluster to grow and develop into the future.