Burton businessman Dan Demko is picking up where he left off four years ago with plans to build up to 140 residential units on his acreage on the west side of Burton Village.
Burton businessman Dan Demko is picking up where he left off four years ago with plans to build up to 140 residential units on his acreage on the west side of Burton Village.
Village Zoning Inspector Rick Gruber sat through a short village council meeting Sept. 9 with plans for Demko’s proposed Hillside Village rolled up in his hand.
He never unfurled the pages, saying he had hoped village Solicitor Todd Hicks would be at the meeting and he would wait for the next council meeting to present the documents.
After the meeting, Gruber said the plans are for Demko’s property, which the village annexed from Burton Township almost exactly four years ago and zoned R-3, allowing multi-family housing.
But, COVID was gaining ground in Ohio and the cost of materials skyrocketed as the supply chain clogged up, rolling over Demko’s project plans.
In the last year, the managing partner for Hillside Village Development LLC decided to resuscitate plans for Hillside Village.
“I’ve been working on it for 10 months. It’s a little different from the original plan,” Demko said in a phone interview Sept. 9.
In 2020, he anticipated building high-density independent senior housing on his 40 acres adjacent to the Preston Kia car lot, leasing the duplex units to people over 50.
Four years later, his plans for the future of Hillside Village have changed.
“We’re not having age restrictions and the units will be for purchase rather than lease,” he said.
Demko still envisions two units to a pad similar to a duplex, but each unit would have a unique architectural design chosen by the buyer. Units would be one, two or three bedrooms and layouts will vary. Home buyers would be able to choose from models ranging from 1,300 square feet up to 2,200 square feet with small yards.
Infrastructure would include underground wiring for dog fences, he said.
“We’ll have green space, two clubhouses, ponds and creeks,” Demko said, adding he intends to develop the entire 36 rolling acres with walking trails, which are zoned for four to six units per acre.
He is confident interest rates will start coming down and the cost of materials has stabilized, though he noted the price of building supplies is twice what it was before the pandemic.
He has commitments from suppliers, but there are time limits on those agreements, Demko said.
“Commodity prices are fluctuating, so I hope to get approved soon,” he said, adding Stanfield Construction and Development LLC, of Huntsburg Township, will be the builder and developer.
At this point, Demko said the prices for the homes are set as low as $195,000 for a standard, one-bedroom home with no add-ons.
All his plans depend on Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and village council approval, but Demko said he hopes to break ground this fall.
“Our people say it’s a good time to build,” he said. “Next summer, we will have a ribbon cutting.”
