Fall start set for new homes in Swanton

7/5/2002

SWANTON - Construction is to start in the fall on 40 villas and 45 single-family homes west of the new high school, said Kevin Noble, one of the landowners.

The villas, which are expected to be 1,800 square feet each and will be built on a total of 8.8 acres, and the homes, which will each sit on a quarter acre, are part of a larger proposed project called Ashbury Farms.

In five to seven years, Mr. Noble said he hopes to build 200 homes and villas on 80 acres that are now rented to a farmer. The land is off Dodge Street in the western part of the village. It was annexed from Fulton Township at the beginning of 2001.

Ashtongreens LLC, made up of Swanton real estate developer Dick Perkins, and Mr. Noble, an engineer from northeast Ohio, has been working on the proposed development for years. The land has been in Mr. Noble's wife's family for decades.

The school district and the developers each saved about $75,000 by working together on utilities, Mr. Noble said. The development is to extend its waterline to the school and the school is to extend its sewer line to the housing project.

Neither the style of the villas nor the size of the single-family homes has been determined, Mr. Noble said. The villas will be marketed to middle-aged and older people and the houses to young couples to middle-aged families, he said.