Newfield, the 3,400-acre community taking shape in Palm City, was conceived more than eight years ago by Knight Kiplinger on land his family had owned for four decades. Kiplinger, whose family has been part of Martin County civic and business life for 75 years, joined The Current by TreasureCoast.com to explain how the project came together, why 70 percent of the land was preserved as open space, and what he thinks should happen with the county’s remaining western lands.
Kiplinger noted at the outset that he holds no financial stake in Newfield today and has no official role in the project, describing his connection as pride of authorship rather than ownership.
Key topics Kiplinger discussed in the conversation:
- Where Newfield actually sits relative to existing Palm City development
- The years of community meetings that preceded the application
- The roughly 1,000-acre Kiplinger Conservancy and other preserved land
- Newfield Farm and the citrus greening blight that ended the family’s grove
- The employment district zoned by the county decades before Newfield existed
- Options for preserving Martin County’s remaining western lands
Where Newfield Sits
Kiplinger pushed back on the characterization of Newfield as a western Martin County or “Western Highlands” project. The community lies along the Florida Turnpike directly across from Martin Downs in Palm City, immediately south of the St. Lucie County line, and entirely inside I-95. He described it as an unusually large infill site, surrounded by suburban development that had existed for decades, including Cobblestone and Stuart West to the west and Martin Downs to the east.
He also addressed the perception that the land’s agricultural history has been erased. Cattle still graze on hundreds of dedicated acres at Newfield today, he said, and he expects that to continue for years.
The Vision and the Listening Tour
Rather than submitting an application first, Kiplinger said he spent significant time meeting with residents in small and large groups across the county to describe the concept and gather input. He asked what people would want in a community designed from scratch.
What he heard shaped the plan:
- A multigenerational mix of housing types and sizes, so empty nesters downsizing from large homes and young families could live in the same neighborhood
- Housing that adult children who grew up in Martin County might be able to afford
- No gates, no golf course frontage, and neighborhoods designed around walkability
- Substantial preserved open space available to the public
The result was a plan built on traditional neighborhood design principles, with sidewalks, front porches, and garages set behind homes on alleys so children can bike without navigating cars backing into the street. The planning team included local planner Marcela Camblor and the national firm Dover, Kohl and Partners.
Open Space, Parks, and Playing Fields
Kiplinger said 70 percent of Newfield’s 3,400 acres is preserved as open space in perpetuity. The largest piece is the Kiplinger Conservancy, roughly 1,000 acres of scrub pine, wetlands, saw palmetto, and scrub oak with a trail system. He noted it is larger than Halpatiokee Regional Park, Martin County’s biggest public park, but carries no maintenance burden for the county while remaining open to the public.
The plan also includes three natural grass soccer fields across from the town center, addressing what Kiplinger described as a shortage of playing fields in the county, along with pocket parks and village greens. Three school sites are built into the plan should population growth require them, positioned so some students could walk rather than arrive by carpool line.
The Kiplinger family’s history with preserved land in the county includes the Kiplinger Preserve on Kanner Highway near the Veterans Memorial Bridge, which became public land through a combination of sale and donation.
Citrus, Blight, and Newfield Farm
Much of the site was once a citrus grove of nearly 1,000 acres in the Indian River district. Kiplinger said a sequence of agricultural disasters, Mediterranean fruit fly, citrus canker, and finally greening, destroyed the operation. The family did not choose to exit citrus, he said. The blight made the decision for them.
Agriculture continued in the plan rather than surviving as decoration. Newfield Farm covers 125 acres of row crops, and Kiplinger said the project intends to reintroduce organic citrus using rootstock resistant to greening. He drew a contrast with “agrihood” developments elsewhere that include small symbolic community gardens.
Zoning History and the Employment District
Kiplinger corrected a common misconception about the land’s prior zoning. The property had been zoned agricultural, with five-acre ranchette entitlements, not 20-acre zoning as some have stated. The by-right alternative, he said, would have been roughly 600 large homes on five-acre lots served by wells and septic systems.
Separately, about 300 acres along the Florida Turnpike had been designated by Martin County for decades as prime employment ground, zoned for light industrial, warehouse, and distribution uses. That land is now the Newfield employment district. Kiplinger emphasized that this designation predated his concept entirely, and that his contribution was designing the employment district, town center, open space, school sites, and neighborhoods as an integrated whole.
On the urban service boundary, he said roughly 300 acres of Newfield already sat inside the line, with public water and sewer at the property line. The comprehensive plan amendment adjusted the boundary modestly rather than leaping past it, allowing the compact town center to be served by public utilities.
How the Project Was Received
Kiplinger spent considerable time on the reception Newfield received during the approval process, which he characterized as notably positive for a project of its scale. He said the Guardians of Martin County reviewed the plan favorably and wrote positively about it as a prototype for better development in the county. He also described meeting with the late Nathaniel Reed and staff from 1000 Friends of Florida, reading aloud from that organization’s own earlier study on smart growth for Martin County and arguing that Newfield matched its recommendations.
He said longtime slow-growth advocate Maggy Hurchalla did not endorse the project but also did not oppose it, recognizing it as preferable to by-right alternatives for the site.
Kiplinger recalled coverage by journalist Gil Smart, now with VoteWater, who wrote about the absence of organized opposition to the proposal. TreasureCoast.com has also spoken with Gil Smart about statewide water policy.
Newfield Today
About 220 families now live at Newfield, and construction has been underway for roughly two years. Kiplinger said he visits when he is in town and talks with residents, who frequently tell him they have met more neighbors in a month there than in years at previous gated communities.
Retail is coming to the town center over the next year, he said, with plans that include an Italian restaurant, a coffee shop, professional offices, and possibly a small specialty grocer chosen to complement rather than duplicate existing options in the area.
Martin County’s Western Lands
Asked what should happen with the county’s remaining undeveloped land, Kiplinger distinguished between the near western lands close to the urban service boundary and the far western lands. He pointed to large open spaces already protected in the far west and noted that Martin County now has a land acquisition fund.
His preference is for the county to consider buying development rights rather than purchasing land outright, a less expensive approach that leaves property in private hands while permanently removing the ability to develop it. He cited his own Maryland farm, where the family sold development rights to county government decades ago.
He also discussed the rural lifestyle community category, which has produced projects like Atlantic Fields, Apogee, and The Ranch. Kiplinger acknowledged these preserve substantial land at low density but said gated enclaves for wealthy buyers are not his preference, in part because the open space is not publicly accessible. He noted that infill projects by national homebuilders across the county will likely add more housing overall than Newfield, despite drawing less attention.
Notably, Kiplinger said he is not advocating for more Newfields in the western lands. He said he does not assume other landowners would invest the years of planning and community engagement the project required, and that he deliberately set a high bar.
Holding Future Projects to the Standard
Kiplinger closed with his hope for future county commissions: that any applicant proposing something comparable be held to the same expectations for planning rigor and community listening. He recalled a commissioner during the hearings expressing doubt that a future owner would execute his vision, and said he responded that the approved plan was drawn tightly enough to bind any successor. He said Mattamy Homes has followed it closely.
More information about the community is available at newfieldfl.com. For more conversations about growth and development on the Treasure Coast, visit The Current by TreasureCoast.com.
