Maronda Homes, a family-owned, Pennsylvania-based homebuilder, proposes constructing new housing on about 75 acres of vacant farmland in Dayton’s Pheasant Hill planning district.
The property is farmland on the south side of Fishburg Road, just east of Bellefontaine Road. It is just south of the Huber Heights line, and adjacent to the Greene County line. The new homes would be part of the Villages of Pheasant Ridge development.
Pheasant Hill was developed post-1980 and consists primarily of single-family homes, with three or more bedrooms and two or more baths, with scattered condos in townhouse or patio styles, according to a project that profiles dozens of city of Dayton neighborhoods.
Maronda Homes proposes constructing new homes in four phases, with the first creating about 78 detached single-family homes.
A second phase would create 100 attached single-family homes; a third would add another 78 detached homes; and a fourth would consist of about 40 additional homes.
Maronda proposes building two types of homes on two different lot sizes, which are part of the company’s “Heritage” and “Americana” series.
The single-family detached homes could start at about $300,000 or higher, said Brian Hoesl, land acquisition manager with Maronda Homes.
The detached homes would have three beds, two full baths and two-car garages, he said.
Maronda Homes’ housing developments include the Trails of Greycliff in Franklin Twp.; Carriage Meadows in Liberty Twp. and the Trails of Todhunter in Monroe.
This likely would be Maronda Homes’ first housing project in Montgomery County, but Hoesl said hopefully it is the first of many new home communities to come.
The developer also proposes making more than a quarter of the new housing site open space and plans to create a perimeter walking path, said Jeff Green, a city planner.
The Dayton Plan Board recently voted to recommend approval of Maronda Homes’ request to replace an existing planned development with a new one.
The Dayton City Commission ultimately will decide whether to approve the requested change.
The original planned development was approved in 1996 and would have allowed for the creation of about 550 homes, Green said.
The developer will still need final plan approval for each phase of the proposed housing, Green said.
Sitework on the project could get underway early next year, and construction could begin in the summer of 2024, according to information submitted to city staff.
“It is tough to predict when different phases of the project will be completed,” Hoesl said. “We are targeting the first phase of development to be completed in 2024 with home construction starting shortly after this completion.”
Some neighbors opposed the plan, saying they fear it could lead to problems with traffic, storm runoff and flooding.
“Our real issue is that some of the drainage systems have been compromised in the decade-plus since this development was built, and things don’t always drain the way they should,” said William Troy, who lives nearby.
Mark Ortega, who lives on Fishburg Road, said this type of development would be harmful for the surrounding area and he thinks the developer should find another location for the project.
Ortega said Fishburg Road is narrow, with steep ditches on both sides, and the roadway can’t handle all of the traffic this development would generate.
But Plan Board member Greg Scott told Ortega that there’s already an existing planned development that allows for the construction of hundreds of new homes.
“This is not going to remain vacant land,” he said. “If this board takes no action at all or if this board denies this request, homes can and probably will still be built there, according to the original planned development.”
About the Author
