Change is on the horizon for a nearly 500-acre resort community on the northern outskirts of Perry.

Houston Springs, one of the largest ongoing developments in Houston County, could be heading in more directions in the coming months.

Jeff Moredock, president of Woodland Property Partners Inc. – the firm developing Houston Springs into a community for active retirees – wants the city to give his company more leeway to build neighborhoods in a way that Moredock says is rare in Middle Georgia.

The city has already agreed to zone the property into a Planned Unit Development, or PUD – a zoning class that allows developers to build more homes on less land than standard residential zoning. In return, developers have to set aside a certain amount of land for greenspaces, everything from parks and playgrounds to walking trails and wildlife areas.

Houston Springs’ original plans called for 20-foot front yards, but developers were allowed to build well below the city’s standards for side and back yards.

Now Moredock has asked the city to loosen the restrictions on front yards as well.

The Perry Planning Commission gave its stamp of approval for the change Monday night, a move Moredock said will allow the company to follow what he sees is a growing trend in development across the United States.

Called “new urbanism,” this design movement emphasizes a greater sense of community and a focus on tighter-knit neighborhoods, essentially turning Houston Springs into a city within a city.

Moredock said more than two and a half years of active research, focus groups, and comments from residents have pushed his company to move in this direction. If the Perry City Council approves the company’s request, Moredock plans to develop the more than 200 acres left on the site into subdivisions that share many of the tenets of new urbanism. The homes Moredock’s company plans to build in two subdivisions called Camellia Terrace and Magnolia Reserve will stray from the design standards of the past. Instead of facing a street, the front of these homes will connect to a communal park area that is shared and maintained by all homeowners in the neighborhood.

“We had to look at our demographics,” Moredock said. “With a lot of younger couples with families, you won’t see that really because they want their own yard with their own land. “But retirees really don’t want to maintain all that, and with the walking trails and parks, it gives them a chance to exercise, live an active lifestyle, and really get to know their neighbors.”

According to initial plans, the rear of each home will feature a two-car garage with an upstairs storage area that could be converted into an apartment for a caretaker or a room for guests. The rear garage area will connect to a system of 24-foot wide streets that allow for more parking.

Most of these homes will share common side walls, allowing for a private lawn and patio area.

“The thinking is this,” he said. “If you want to visit your friends, you don’t have to walk along the streets to get there.

Fairway Ridge, the first subdivision already under construction at Houston Springs, features conventional, single-family homes. The Villas at Quail Run feature 1,800-square-foot attached homes. Houston Springs also features a commercial district called the town square, another tenet of the new urbanism mold.

“The goal is to really make Houston Springs as self-sufficient as possible,” Moredock said.

But the homes in each of these new subdivisions won’t be built from one cookie-cutter mold, according to Moredock. “There’s actually three different styles of home and lot design for every six houses,” he said. “The lots are actually less dense than a standard single-family home subdivision.”

Although Moredock said this type of development is unprecedented so far in Middle Georgia, he said price will still be a factor.

“We’re not out here to sell $400,000 homes,” he said. “If we do, then quite frankly, we’re competing with a lot of developments across the country that are closer to the big cities, the coast, closer to Disney World.”

Moredock said homes in this neighborhood will span a price range from $130,000 to $275,000.

He also plans to build at least seven to eight homes per acre.

Houston Springs also features a stormwater drainage system that directs water from rooftops and roads into a system of ponds and lakes, eventually pumped back into the community’s more than $1 million irrigation system.

“It’s on the cutting edge,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is stop that water from ever hitting the ground, and it’s a cycle in the end.”

Many developers incorporating this style across the country are going so far as to build schools, grocery stores and police and fire stations in their communities. The Perry City Council voted in late December to set aside a portion of their allotment from the upcoming Houston County special purpose local option sales tax, or SPLOST, to build two new fire stations in Perry and eventually move the existing station on Washington Street northwest along U.S. 341 North, if voters approve the referendum in March. But Moredock is already safe.

“I know there’s some talk of moving the station out closer to us, but I already feel Houston Springs is safe,” he said. “You’re talking about being within two to three miles of a fire station.”

Planning Commission Chairman Martin Beeland said the ultimate judge is the consumer.

“Ultimately, the real test is whether you can sell it,” he said.

The Perry City Council is expected to first tackle the issue during its regular meeting Feb. 21.

Commissioners Patricia Jefferson and Jim Mehserle were absent from Monday’s meeting.