Oakmont in Retrospect
By David Driapsa, FASLA
Originally published in ASLA News, The Newsletter of the Naples/Fort Myers Section of the Florida Chapter,
American Society of Landscape Architects
As the company landscape architect of Westinghouse Communities of Naples, Inc. (the very successful Community Development Group subsidiary of Westinghouse Electric Corporation) I master planned the neighborhood of Oakmont in the prestigious community of Pelican Bay and managed the landscape development over a period of five years.
Oakmont is a neighborhood of 130 single-family homes of common architecture and common landscape architecture with the character of a lovely rural village. This neighborhood crowns a sand ridge mantled in coastal forest. The ridge is a relic beach dune of fine white sand. With very little surface moisture, the ridge is crowded with dwarf oak trees festooned with bromeliads and the ubiquitous cigar orchid (Cyrtopodium punctatum), saw palmetto, scattered pines, brittle shrubs, tawny grasses, showy forbes, lichens and cacti. More than forty species of plants and many more animals are endemic to this environment, including the southern-most strand of Turkey Oaks (Quercus leavis) in the United States. The Florida scrub jay, state listed as threatened, is a resident.
This forest matrix was preserved by a management intensive approach to real estate development. Instead of the standard wholesale clearing of vegetation to make way for homesites, then replanting, a tree survey was procured and used to selectively remove plants on a site-by-site basis. This enabled each house to be nestled into the homesite with little loss of the forest. Restrictive covenants guided builders to install plantings similar to the forest in drought resistance, form, color and texture.
Development of the neighborhood was an exciting experiment in real estate development, sustainability, nature preservation and landscape aesthetics. Everybody was happy: owners retained the natural beauty that attracted them to Oakmont, nature was saved, the company created value, and the scrub jays still forage in the Turkey Oak preserve.
Oakmont won many state and national awards. South Florida Water Management District designated the whole neighborhood an Xeriscape Demonstration Site; First Lady Nancy Reagan presented my company the prestigious ASLA landscape award at the White House; and ASLA Florida Chapter bestowed the Merit Award, stating that this “departure from normal aesthetic canons may make large-scale acceptance slow.”
Slash and burn real estate development is ravishing the beautiful natural landscape of Collier County, Florida, at an alarming rate. Perhaps it is time to reconsider “aesthetic canons” and take another look at Oakmont in retrospect.
David J Driapsa Landscape Architect
(239) 591-2321
Please visit www.davidjdriapsa.com for more information
Registered Professional Landscape Architect, Florida LA0001185
(C) Copyright 1993-2016 David J Driapsa