Community Design

Centennial will feature a wide variety of housing options and styles.

Community Design….Based on Smart Growth Principles

Smart growth principles were first established in 1991 by a group of renowned community planners who met at Yosemite’s Ahwahnee Hotel with the goal of encouraging more livable communities. Centennial’s plan is based on the 15 Ahwahnee Principles that promote conservation and resource management as well as recapturing the livability and desirability of walkable and friendly small towns.

Hiking and biking trails will connect Centennial residents to the vast natural resources surrounding the new town.

Smart growth starts with intelligent land planning that preserves large swaths of open space – almost half of Centennial’s 11,700-acre site is earmarked as permanent open space and its master plan uses the terrain’s natural land forms to shape the layout of the community. The site’s primary drainage areas will be preserved and used as greenways and pedestrian paths, combining flood control with open space areas that support active uses. Centennial’s architectural character will reflect the rich heritage of the region and its landscape will incorporate California native plants and trees that blend with the local terrain and require little water to flourish.

Centennial plans provide for 21 parks, including 9 community parks.

Centennial neighborhoods will artfully weave together a mix of housing styles and price ranges to ensure a wide assortment of for-sale and rental housing to accommodate diverse budgets, households and lifestyles. Equally important to its smart growth planning principles, the new town is comprised of intimate villages that contain homes, shopping, parks, civic facilities and recreational opportunities. The village communities are connected by an attractive system of trails and paseos to encourage a pedestrian-friendly vitality in which people will choose to walk or bike rather than drive. Centennial also will provide internal transit systems that shuttle residents throughout the community and to commuter transit centers, in keeping with smart growth alternatives.

A jobs/housing balance that allows residents to work in the community is another fundamental smart growth measure that Centennial is committed to executing. Further, Centennial has mandated strict energy conservation, green building and sustainable systems community-wide and at the individual home level, again fulfilling smart growth parameters. The majority of homes will be sited with a north/south orientation for optimal seasonal exposure to the sun, reducing energy consumption.

Centennial will be a new town in harmony with its environment and evoking the sense of place and integrity of classic small town America.

Click here to see plans for Community Life.