Raising the Bar at Longleaf: Trey Starkey
by Mary Kelley Hoppe

Trey Starkey is all about elevating the discussion, whether musing on Florida's future with high-speed rail or pushing the envelope on residential community design.

At Longleaf, the Pasco County community he is developing with his brother Frank, he's raising the bar again in a traditional neighborhood that pays homage to the past with design features that are positively forward thinking.

Longleaf is vintage Americana with all the modern accouterments. Located on a portion of the Anclote River Ranch, the 16,000-acre spread that was their boyhood home, Longleaf's appeal is platted out in cozy streetscapes with homes centered around a traditional village green. Elevated porches invite neighborly conversation and sidewalks actually lead somewhere - to nearby parks, a town meeting hall, main street shops, and greenbelts separating the town's four neighborhoods.

"If there's a theme that runs through our project, it's respect - respect for people, respect for privacy, respect for public areas and respect for neighbors," says the 41-year-old developer, son of cattle rancher and land baron, Jay B. Starkey, Jr.

Porch passions run high here. Homeowners love the elevated front porches gracing each Longleaf residence. Builders, however, were less enthusiastic.

"Builders want to build slab on grade," Starkey says. Elevating a porch costs anywhere from $1500 to $2000 per home, but adds nothing to a home's square footage calculation. "If they're going to take on $2000 in expenses, they want to get at least $4000 value," he explains. Fortunately for residents, the decision to add the amenity was non-negotiable.

The Starkeys wanted intimate streetscapes, with homes pulled forward on lots, creating an easy conversation distance from the sidewalk to the front porch rocking chair. The elevated porch puts rocking residents at eye level with neighbors strolling by.

A privacy easement on one side of each lot gives every homeowner an expanded side yard. Contrast that to the typical new development, where homes are plunked down in the middle of a lot, leaving tiny - and largely useless - scraps of sod on either side.

The garage is relegated to the back of the house, another refreshing design mandate Trey credits to Frank, the town architect.

Just down the road from Longleaf, Starkey kicks back in a wood-paneled office comfortably strewn with family photos and a smattering of ribbons and awards from the dozen or so triathlons and mountain bike races he enters each year. Tall, lanky and athletic like his father and brother, he completed his first triathlon at Tarpon Springs' Howard Park in 1995 and hasn't looked back since, although he hastens to point out a more coveted role - that of dad and soccer coach to eight-year-old twins, Madison and Zachary.

His wife, Kathryn, who was recently elected to the Pasco County School Board, is also a new member of the Southwest Florida Water Management District's Pinellas-Anclote River Basin Board, an appointment once held by her husband, his dad and grandfather. Jay. B. Starkey, Sr. (1895-1989), for whom Starkey Road in mid-Pinellas road is named, resigned a comfortable $1800-a-year post office position in St. Petersburg in 1922 to pursue cattle ranching. Soon after, he bought his first tract of land - 10 acres south of Largo, and eventually catapulted his holdings into a 655-acre property known as the Ulmerton Ranch. By 1972, he had amassed a 16,000-acre wilderness spread in Pasco County at the headwaters of the Anclote and Pithlachascotee rivers. His father-in-law, William Straub (1867-1939), was the St. Petersburg Times' first editor and led the drive to preserve the city's downtown waterfront as public park land. "Grand dad sold off the Pinellas property and was really revolted by how it was developed," Starkey says. "It was blown away." Son, Jay B. Jr., took that bitter lesson to heart, constantly reminding his own children of their responsibility as stewards of the land. "When dad raised us, he wanted to make sure we did the right thing," Starkey recalls. He didn't define it, didn't have to, he explains, but that ethic influenced and bolstered Trey and Frank's vision for Longleaf. The once-sprawling Anclote River Ranch has now been parceled off. A portion of the ranchland was sold, at a fraction of its market value, to the water management district to be preserved as a wilderness park. Longleaf commands another 3400 acres. The remaining 1000-acre parcel, while no longer a viable cattle ranching enterprise, has re-emerged in a new role - that of eco-ambassador. At J.B. Starkey's Flatwoods Adventures, naturalists and guides lead nature tours, trail rides and moonlight marshmallow roasts, introducing visitors to real Florida - a cornucopia of pine flatwoods, sand pine ridges, pasture land and cypress swamp - from the comfort of a shaded range buggy or the back of a ranch horse. "We take a much longer view of things than typical," explains Starkey. "Our family looks back 105 years to the days when Central Avenue in St. Pete was just a dirt road. I'm thinking about what I'm putting in place for my kids."
		J. B. Starkey's Flatwoods Adventures offers monthly moonlight rides and marshmallow roasts amid pine flatwoods and cypress heads. Enjoy a hayride, barbeque and horseback ride, before settling down around a roaring bonfire for s'mores and sing-a-along. Scheduled Dates: January 22 February 19 March 26 April 23 Hayride and horseback packages start at $28 per adult, $10 per child. Starkey Ranch is located nine miles west of U.S. 41 on State Road 54 in Pasco County. Visit www.flatwoodsadventures.com or call 1-877-734-9453 for reservations or additional details.