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By Rex L. Troute, The Hawk Eye, Burlington, Iowa | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
"I don't know if a kid out here is over the age of 10," said
Shafer graduated from
The surge in new development in the Patrick subdivision, originally started by
Two houses under construction on
"We sit down with the homeowners and have them bring five or six plans they like," Shafer said. "We draw one they think they want."
Most of the homes in the recent development are single-story ranches with a finished basement.
"Nobody really does a lot of two-stories," Shafer said.
Other features the homes have in common are two- or three-car garages, two baths and two or three bedrooms. An open floor plan has the kitchen, living room and dining room flowing into one living area.
The homes range in size of 1,400 to 2,000 square feet and sit on lots of 90 feet by 120 feet.
Shafer said on average it takes three to six months to finish a home, depending on how intricate the work is on the inside.
Subdivision neighbors
"The young couples had something to do with it," said
Rocky graduated from
Rocky is the wrestling coach at
Sunny's father,
"We've known some couples our whole life," Rocky said of their new neighborhood.
The couple has two children, with the oldest, a boy, being 4 years old.
Rocky said there are five or six girls in the neighborhood his boy's age. Jokingly, he figured his son wouldn't have trouble finding a date for the prom when those high school days arrive.
"We mainly needed to move out of our house in
"It had enough room to build what we wanted," she said of the subdivision.
Cody works for
The Greiners came up with their own home blueprint, but got input from Shafer during the building process. It took about six months to complete construction.
"We know everybody out there," she said of the subdivision.
Kenna knows one of the newcomers quite well. Her sister,
Once Shafer finishes the Wagners and Rohrer's houses, he could be working on two more homes involving young couples for
Shafer figures there are about 15 lots left on Linden, Laurel and Spruce Drives.
"This phase has gone longer than I thought it would," Shafer said. "This is a good thing for
Shafer has began his first term on the
Shafer said most of his construction work occurs in
"I've been pulling into the same neighborhood the last four years," he said of his construction work in the subdivision.
The growth in the Patrick subdivision doesn't appear to be stopping. Shafer's drive to work may get boring, but the landscape continually changes with the appearance of another new home.
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