• Place type

    New Neighborhoods (directly related)

  • Location

    Lower Makefield Township, Pennsylvania

  • Site

    418 acres of former farmland.

  • Program

    332 large houses on average 0.5-acre lots (in traditionally a one-acre minimum lot size zone); conserved 137 acres of farmland (leased to farmers) & 76 acres of woods (51% of site).

  • Developer

    Realen Homes

Lower Makefield Township is a rural community on the west bank of the Delaware River, of which Farmview is a conservation subdivision. Instead of building on 1-acre lots as the zoning permitted, the developer worked with the township to gain permission to build the same number of homes on smaller lots while preserving the remainder of the site as open space/farmland and donating it to the local farmland preservation corporation. The developer purposely maximized the number of homes that had permanently protected farmland vistas or abutted woodlands, which was an attractive feature to buyers. The township has since then experienced reduced street and utility infrastructure maintenance costs because of the smaller lot sizes. The compactness of the neighborhood may also facilitate social interaction.