TurtleGirl suggested this and i thought she was crazy but after some searching i liked the idea and i tried to nail it while still making things simple.
Yes Spawn may cause some lag spikes for people with trash computers and what i suggest is when entering any MC server or world before moving and running around stand still and let things load. Java programs are not very good about giving them more RAM when needed and MC is set to about 1GB max so dedicating more RAM (if you have it) is an amazing way to boost performance in Minecraft (2GB should be more then enough). You can add more RAM either thru the command prompt box (I have not done this) or thru a third party launcher like MultiMC or Magiclauncher (i have both and this is very easy to do.)
Freebuild is HUGE compared to the last few freebuilds there are 100 plots total -2 display plots that is why we have a East and West Freebuild portal. I am wanting to make a map of Freebuild but have been very busy Freebuild can be very hard to navigate i understand but spend a few days there and you will figure it out. For those that have gotten the privlage of flying over Freebuild most of us agree its not as complicating as it looks so a map would be awesome.
Below is just a piece of the GuestWrodl settings and as you can see it is set on Normal.
How we have it set now is if you cannot pay taxes then your plot goes back up for sale and if you have not logged in for more then 2 weeks your plot goes back up for sale. This helps us not have to spend every day in the server seeing who has been active and who has not plus it keeps us from having to expand Freebuild every few weeks.
Town Taxes are 1 dollar and plot taxes are 1 dollar for each plot so daily taxes are 5 dollars. Mobs were added so that players can kill them and gain money because we by no means want you to loose your plots. I can go around and turn mobs off on all the actual plots and they should de-spawn within 5 seconds (yes this still gives creepers to explode).
Wilderness starts about 20 blocks outside of Freebuild if you wank you will see in the chat it will say "Wilderness" when you reach the wild and "Freebuild" when you have reached town. (I did notice alst night a permission was messed up and i fixed it right away. That perm is towny.wild.* which allows people to build/destroy in the wild)
/sethome and lockette are some of the tools that are perks of joining. Lockette is unnessacary anyways because no one but you and the admins can do anything in your plot. People my get on your plot but they cannot Switch, item use, build, or destroy so lockette is unnecessary we have the Freebuild plots set for easy use because again people will not read signs about lockette but they will bug all of us in chat. I can increase the amount of food the server gives you to start.
Members have build rights in the wilderness of Freebuild as well but cannot use lockette there. The wilderness of Freebuild is all out survival.
Community areas uggh i knew this would come up. We have tested countless plugins that should regen areas after so much time but let me tell you something they all stink!!! I had so many issues and headaches with the regen plugins im done with them i cannot tell you how many times i would have to force the server down and back up then make the farm over and reconfigure the plugin. It is what i call a PITA.
Street signs humm we have tried this before and if any one can come up with names for all of the streets ill give you the signs and give you build access the freebuild so you can do it. This might work best after a map is created.
I think i covered everything but if i didn't or i caused more questions feel free to reply back i am willing to answer all that is MC since i know most all of our plugins like the back of my hand and i configured all of them i am here to help.