By RACHEL ZIMMERMAN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Recognized by the National Association of Homebuilders in 1995 as having the best community design in the United States and named one of the most walkable communities by Sunset Magazine last year, Northwest Landing does have some characteristics of the strictly regulated, suburban planned communities that it bristles against.

"You won't find yourself living next door to a pink house," a promotional pamphlet notes. "Or a car on blocks."

On the contrary, sparkling Craftsman-style homes, ranging from $85,000 to $250,000 come in muted hues pre-approved by the homeowners' association: sage, ivory, pistachio, powder blue, celery, smoky grey, creamy white.

But overall, the development is relatively progressive in scope.

"It's not an exclusive enclave for people who live on golf courses," says Peter Calthorpe the Berkeley, Calif.-based architect who designed the community. "There's a whole range of housing, and the diversity is part of the appeal."

The five builders who designed the homes, condominiums and apartments have placed an emphasis on interaction as opposed to typical subdivision alienation: narrower tree-lined streets that connect clusters of housing rather than separate them; reduced setbacks to bring homes closer to the sidewalk in an attempt to foster contact between neighbors; preferences for side-entry or rear-entry garages; miles of trails for hiking and biking.

A sweet-chiming clock tower on the Village Green fuels a sense of old-world Americana that is bolstered by activities sponsored by Weyerhaeuser throughout the year: a bike, buggy and pet parade; a bocce ball tournament; a performance by the Tacoma Symphony.

The development seems to be a winner. Of the 314 homes now built, 93 percent are occupied, and of the 117 completed apartments, 87 percent are rented.

Still, old-time DuPonters have bittersweet feelings about their arriviste neighbors.

"It's an expansion into an area that was previously wooded, so a lot of the community feeling is one of loss. The woods are gone, and houses and streets are in its place," says DuPont City Planner Dennis Clarke. "But the other feeling is a sense of pride. A lot of elements in the current historic village -- the alleyways, front porches, pitched roofs, cottage-style structures -- are being repeated in the new development, and that brings a certain familiarity."

Clarke says old DuPont, with its mayor and City Council, is trying to assimilate the newcomers by appointing them to the city's planning agency, for instance, and the park board. When it's time for the monthly newsletter to go out, it's delivered to every door in DuPont.

Nina Ogren, 87, who lives in old DuPont in the house she was born in, has seen this town rise and decline and now, rise again.

With the sort of perspective that comes from living a full life, Ogren says: "Things have to change."

And they certainly have since her father and two brothers worked at the explosives plant while her mother raised 10 children.

"You could buy anything in the Johnson Brothers store," she recalls. "And we had a wonderful school here, with marvelous teachers."

While she accepts change as inevitable, watching the emergence of Northwest Landing hasn't always been easy.

"The homes are so close together," she says. "You can reach your arm out and touch your neighbor."

But 84-year-old Vivian Davis, a neighbor of Ogren's and former recreation director at Fort Lewis, says living in the past won't do DuPonters any good.

"I'm amazed at the attitude some of them have," she says. "They said, 'You just can't do this to us.' They didn't realize this couldn't last forever."

One thing most residents agree on is that since the newcomers have arrived, the town's been showered with attention -- from the news media, from Japanese tour groups that peruse the new site and from potential developers.

The big news this summer is that, after a number of false starts, Barksdale Station, a development near the freeway exit, is scheduled to open in September. Among the shops, there will be a nail salon, a teriyaki joint, a dry cleaner, a credit union. And, in what residents point to as a true sign that the neighborhood really is becoming a neighborhood, there will be a Starbucks.