Whether it's life imitating

art or art imitating life, the Selborne Village being planned as part

of the Serenbe community in Palmetto combines work and leisure in a unique

way.

Architectural plans proposed

to the concepts of home and office.

The live-work complex on Hutchinson

Ferry Road will house artists' studios and galleries on the ground

floor as well as living spaces above them. The culinary arts will also

be a focus of the close knit community with a planned bakery in the works.

Judy Barber, who heads up the

creative and cultural division for Serenbe, has been an integral part

of the direction in which this select group of artists, architects and

lovers of natural beauty have steered. Still just a wooded area with a

simple path running through it, the final plans and preparations should

be complete by May at the latest, officials said.

Weather permitting, tenants

could be ready to ease into their new surroundings by this time next year.

Steve Nygren, who conceived

the Serenbe and related communities, said the overall idea is to combine

old restored buildings and newer structures with an "1800s look"

and modern design for a "true organic look."

Reservations for many spaces

have been taken at this point. Along with the live-work spaces, townhouses

and cottages have been designed into the scheme.

"We're trying to

show there's a different way to do things," Nygren said.�

He cited a report by The Rocky

Mountain Institute which studied the golf community trend in developing

subdivisions. The study said that 96 percent of the people who own lots

in these neighborhoods play golf only once or twice each year. Guaranteed

green space is the real attraction of these communities,the Institute

said.

Nygren points out that when

it comes to doing something different with land use developments it takes

a little more time. He has been at work on his vision for the past three

years.

"Part of the problem,"

he said, "is rules and regulations that don't allow for such

amenities as granite curbs. Fulton County does not have a granite curb

ordinance."

Coming up against hurdles like

this have slowed the process somewhat but has not tripped up his determination.

"Land preservation makes

sense." said Steve Nygren, chairman of the Chattahoochee Hill Country

Alliance in the Serenbe Community.

One look around the neatly

coifed grounds and pleasant countryside shows the attention to detail

that will spill over into the Selborne community and all the other villages

and hamlets yet to come in the Hill Country.