Notable Project Submission: Starkey Ranch

October 2020

The back porch of the community Welcome Center—the first in the state to receive Florida’s Water Star designation—looks over a restored wetland habitat where Cypress trees have been transplanted into high-use areas for contrast and to celebrate nature.

Starkey Ranch exemplifies a new model in greenfield development. Wishing to avoid conventional land development practices that too often have resulted in placeless strip-center shopping and tract housing, the Starkey family donated a large portion of their ranch land to create a permanent wilderness preserve. They then engaged a design team, Dix.Hite + Partners, that embraced their vision: to develop an adjacent master-planned community that honors the land’s history, connects people to nature, and creates a sense of place celebrating a ranching character.

The landscape on this 2,500-acre community utilizes a palette that is 95% native and, with the exception of turf, is entirely xeric. The open spaces throughout the community treat stormwater, provide habitats for wildlife, and offer relaxing vistas and trail views for the community. Native plant mixes respond to their environmental factors of light, shade, and water. Boardwalks and pedestrian bridges float through the landscape exposing users to natural ecologies without causing disruption to the land.

In place of the traditional community amenity, the parks at Starkey Ranch compose a system of contextual open spaces, honoring the land’s history, creating a sense of place, and connecting people to nature and each other.

Beauty in function: the historic Starkey family homestead and other elements of the land’s history provided inspiration for the design of residential amenities in the new community. The new architecture and elements are meant to be simple, functional, raw, and beautiful.

In place of the traditional master amenity area, a series of well-connected parks and open spaces each serve a role to the community and provide unique experiences. The parks at Starkey Ranch compose a cohesive series of context-sensitive open spaces, honoring the land’s history, connecting people to nature, and creating a sense of place. Like a ranch, each park is multi-functional and designed in response to the land. Each park tells the site’s history, respects the surrounding wetlands, increases tree canopy on the former farmland, and protects habitat for native wildlife. The parks provide space for families to gather with neighbors, play with their children and pets, celebrate special events, and appreciate natural Florida. By creating multiple spaces throughout the community, rather than one amenity, the system of parks at Starkey Ranch encourages these activities to take place.

The preservation of existing trees was paramount to the community's overall sense of place. Open spaces and playgrounds situated under the shade of an oak canopy provide a unique amenity.

A planted swale meanders along natural contours in the park to convey stormwater and define edges of the playground. Wood boardwalks provide connections across the swale that offer additional opportunities to explore.

Numerous native plant mixes were created to respond to the environmental factors of light, shade, and water. The “grass mix” pictured here incorporates cordgrass and goldenrod. Another combination—the “oak mix”—includes firebush and beautyberry.

The design team preserved natural Florida plant communities—in this case, pine flatwoods—and thoughtfully located community amenities to bring people closer to nature, such as the boardwalk and bench that extend from the residential street in the background.

by Kody Smith, PLA

Kody Smith is a partner and studio leader at Dix.Hite + Partners. He joined the firm in 2013 and has over 6 years of public and private design experience. His primary focus on large scale master planning projects, trails, and parks stems from a passion derived by an intense respect for people, their culture, and the environment in which they live. He finds great inspiration and pride in working on inherently flexible projects that improve the quality of public spaces used by a variety of people in a variety of ways. For the past 5 years, Kody has acted as project manager and designer for Starkey Ranch, an award winning, 2,500-acre master planned community featuring an industry leading park and trail system. Kody is a registered landscape architect in the State of Florida, having lived and practiced in Central Florida since 2008.

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