Copperfield: Phase 3 gets a green light

By Fran Odyniec

Editor

Plain City received some good residential development news on Monday evening at the village’s council meeting.

Construction of the next phase of the Copperfield subdivision is poised to begin within the next two months with the building of a model home pending permit approval in the next 45 days.

Rob Treynor - Staff

: The Copperfield residential development in Plain City will soon be expanding.

Jim Lipnos, president of Homewood Corporation, developer of Copperfield, told the council based upon the incentives the village had presented to his company in April, a decision was made to go ahead with the last phase of the three-phase project.

“This is an investment we are willing to make,” Lipnos said. “With the incentive, we want to take advantage of it.”

Homewood will receive a 10 percent discount on tap fees for the remaining 30 homes that comprise the last phase of the subdivision. The village’s tap fee for water and sewer hook-ups is currently $12,000 per property, with $8,000 for sewer and $4,000 for water.

Ohio Department of Transportation’s original recommendation for a turning lane into Copperfield from the northbound lane of U.S. Route 42, which was made during the initial phases of the subdivision’s development, has been waived.

Under the terms of the agreement, Homewood will proceed with the first 12 units in phase 3, but will need to purchase the remaining 18 by Jan. 1, 2013.

The tap fees for these 12 units will generate approximately $129,600, of which $86,400 will be applied to the debt on the village’s waste water plant.

“We’ve done our market study,” Lipnos continued, “and Plain City is a good opportunity for us now. We believe the market is better but we are moving cautiously.”

The first 12 units of phase 3 will be built in the Hawthorne Drive area with a price point, according to Lipnos, in the mid-$200,000 range.

Model offerings have yet to be determined, but Lipnos indicated that the units will be multi-level, mid-size splits which he said are very popular.

Village council member Kevin Vaughn made the motion to approve the agreement which council unanimously voted to accept.

The Homewood Corporation, founded in 1963, is headquartered in Columbus, and along with its Ambassador division, has developed 15 residential communities in central Ohio.