Photo courtesy of Bob Quarles
People in the Mt Laurel community celebrate Independence Day on July 4.
Kevin Millen said as an architect, he’s been interested in the town of Mt Laurel ever since work started on the master-planned community in 1998.
As a “neo-traditional village dropped into the forest,” it’s imprinted with something special, he said.
And as Millen walks around the walkable town he’s called home for the past five years, he sees the date of its founding imprinted on its streets and is reminded of how far the community has come since its beginnings.
“We’ve hit our stride,” said Millen, who serves on an advisory committee for the Mt Laurel Neighborhood Association.
That progress is what Mt Laurel is celebrating all year long as it marks its 25th anniversary.
When the town was founded by Elton Stevens Jr., infrastructure was put in place for 350 residential lots.
“We’re up into the 320s now,” Millen said.
The community was planned by Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co., which started the New Urbanism movement and is best known for its Alys Beach and Seaside, Florida, developments. Early on, John Freeman Sr. also became a part of the project as an instrumental builder.
“All the commercial spaces are rented, and businesses are prospering,” Millen said. “You can get a drink, a pizza, a Mexican meal and a cup of coffee.”
And by cup of coffee, he means from two kinds of coffee shops: “a coffeehouse-type coffee shop, and then the old-guys-sitting-around-and-eating-biscuits kind of coffee shop.”
There’s also a fine dining restaurant and a grocery store, all of which residents can reach with a short stroll from their homes through tree-lined streets and green spaces, Millen said. “It’s a beautiful walk in the woods.”
The town was designed around that concept, he said.
Millen said the founding company studied the rhythm of former streetcar communities like the Highland Avenue area in Birmingham, which is still a highly walkable area today. All their research paid off, he said.
“We have people walking all the time in Mt Laurel; any hour up until midnight, there are people walking their dogs,” Millen said.
It’s also a multigenerational community, he said. For example, Ward Tishler and his wife, Anne, are the eldest of four generations there — their family lives in the community stretching down to their great-grandchildren.
“We sure have our share of silver-haired neighbors, but there’s an amazing bunch of baby carriages here, too,” Millen said.
Most of Mt Laurel’s anniversary events are for residents only, but Millen said everyone is invited to come visit the town anytime and experience it for themselves.
For more information, visit mtlaurel.com.
