Tradition Making Progress
The Town of Tradition, Mississippi’s largest master-planned community under construction in north central Harrison County, is showing tangible signs of progress after years of master planning and infrastructure work.
Over 550 students are completing their first year of classes at the new St. Patrick Catholic High School at Tradition. Land for the new Gulf Coast campus of William Carey University has been cleared in the Tradition Town Center and infrastructure work is underway. University officials anticipate breaking ground on their first buildings this spring and will open the new 50-acre campus in August 2009 to 750 students.
Tradition Campus
The community’s first New Urbanist neighborhood, The Village at Tradition, has completed its first homes and has ten more under construction, including those of its first residents who are anticipated to move in later this spring. The Village’s eight-acre lake and the first of three community parks are complete. Construction is underway for the Village Center, community
pool/clubhouse and the first phase of the Village hiking/biking trail system. Biloxi Regional Medical Center will break ground later this year on a 5,000-square-foot Family Care Clinic in Tradition’s Village Center, joining a Village market, café, fitness center and other professional services.
With the vision of a truly sustainable community – environmentally, socially and economically – Tradition Developer Joseph C. Canizaro and his development team welcomed 15 of the country’s top planners and designers from the Urban Land Institute (ULI) in January. During the week long visit, Tradition announced plans to become a “carbon-neutral” community, expanding its “green-friendly” building and design practices. The ULI team also recommended enhancements to the community’s master plan, including a wide diversity of housing options, an Audubon-certified golf course, resort hotel & conference center, charter elementary school and a focus on eco-tourism assets including the adjacent DeSoto National Forest.
To build on this visit, Canizaro hosted representatives of Prince Charles’ Foundation for the Built Environment to Tradition and the Gulf Coast region on March 10. During the visit, Hank Dittmar, chief executive of the Prince’s Foundation and president of the Congress for New Urbanism, spoke to area business and community leaders about the foundation’s efforts to promote affordable housing and teach traditional homebuilding crafts, sustainability principles and green building practices. Tour stops included Hope VI, the East Biloxi Coordination Center, Mississippi State University Community Design Studio, the Veteran’s Administration site in Gulfport and a North Gulfport Community Land Trust’s model home. The Tradition development team hopes to emulate the immensely successful town of Poundbury, established in England by Prince Charles, and showcase how traditional architecture and modern town planning can create a thriving new community where people live and work in close proximity.
