New Pataskala high

Jan 01, 2024

A new Pataskala housing development is preserving trees, streams and wetlands as it creates a unique neighborhood for residents to call home.

Instead of sacrificing the 136-acre property's vegetation, developer Dimitry Filonenko designed lots and roadways around the ridges, ravines and streams to create the Scenic View Estates housing subdivision. Filonenko worked with the City of Pataskala to keep thousands of trees so residents can experience living in a secluded forest while being minutes away from the growing Columbus area.

Scenic View Estates has 60 lots ranging from 1 to 5 acres. Work has started on two homes in the development's first phase, which includes 17 lots. The property was previously owned by M/I Homes and slated for a 240-home development before Filonenko purchased it more than seven years ago.

Filonenko, who is originally from Ukraine, said he didn't want to build a traditional subdivision with "cookie-cutter" homes that were all alike.

"You’ve seen how it's done wrong and you feel it's wrong and you just think, 'What could be done about it?' And fortunately, I got a chance to do it differently," he said.

Filonenko said he wants Scenic View Estates to be a place where people can build the custom, high-end home of their dreams.

"New build neighborhoods, they’re all like brothers and sisters. They’re all alike," he said. "Here it will be a neighborhood with 60 homes, which will not repeat."

The project has been in the works for years, and Pataskala City Council approved rezoning the property from high density residential district (or R-10) zoning classification to planned development district (PDD) zoning classification in November 2020.

Filonenko declined to discuss the cost of the homes.

Scenic View Estates is bordered to the east, south and north by existing housing developments. Filonenko said the topography of the land made it difficult to connect all the streets, so the development will have five different access points using Keela Drive to the south, Regret Drive and Middle Ground Road to the east, and Faultless Lane and another portion of Middle Ground Road to the north. Each entrance will have a gated entrance into the subdivision.

Even though the streets won't connect, Filonenko said a 3-mile walking path will circle the entire development. It will lead to a community clubhouse that will also include a pool, he said.

While planning the development, Filonenko said he spent nearly a year walking the property determining house locations based on the best views. He also laid out where the roads would go inside the forest instead of razing it, which resulted in saving 7,000 trees, he said.

As part of the approved PDD, trees can only be removed within 20 feet of homes, Filonenko said.

"Outside of 20 feet, if you cut something, you replace," he said.

Filonenko protected the property's wetlands by having roadways go around them. When that wasn't possible, bridges were built, so water could still flow.

Scenic View properties have all-encompassing utilities with water and sewer through the City of Pataskala as well as underground electric, gas, and high-speed internet. They were installed through a process called directional boring, a minimal impact method of installing underground utilities that only required going four feet below the surface.

Filonenko said typically trenches that are 40 feet wide and 20 feet deep are dug to install such lines, which would have required the removal of thousands of trees.

Pataskala Planning Director Scott Fulton said the area's wetlands and topography also made it difficult to install a traditional gravity sewer system. Some of the first phase homes will have traditional sewer systems, but much of the rest will have grinder pumps and a pressure system inside the houses to move matter to the city sewer lines.

"Due to the topography, based upon trying to get your depths right, you would have it 40 feet in the ground and then if you go over a ravine, it would be out in the open then back in the ground, so that made it very difficult to design," Fulton said. "Luckily, we were able to work with them and our utility department to find a solution that council was amenable to to get them moving forward."

Overall, home building has slowed this year in Licking County, but experts expect numbers to increase because of the Intel Corporation's $20 billion construction of two computer chip factories just south of Johnstown.

Fulton said Intel will have a major impact on Pataskala, and the city is trying to grow in a responsible way.

"We're seeing a massive uptick in folks inquiring about different properties throughout the community," he said. "But we want to make sure that what they're proposing and how they're going about it fits within the comprehensive plan, fits within the zoning code, and that it's appropriate for the area."

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Twitter: @MariaDeVito13