Staff photo / Ed Runyan Milton Township zoning inspector Michael Kurilla Jr. stands along the west shore of Lake Milton with a view behind him of large homes along the northeast shore.

LAKE MILTON — Small mansions have been going up along the shores of Lake Milton since a $20 million in sewer and water projects came to the western Mahoning County community 15 or so years ago. But for some reason, it has gone bananas so far this year.

Michael Kurilla Jr., the Milton Township zoning inspector, said the first four months of this year have been unlike anything he’s seen in his more than 35-year career in the business. Lake Milton is in Milton Township.

“We shake our head. It’s just amazing,” Kurilla said.

The housing market around Lake Milton has been strong since 2017 when 14 new homes in the township were built at a cost averaging $331,000 per home, not counting the land cost. The numbers remained strong last year with 15 homes averaging $438,000 each.

But out of nowhwere, buyers, builders, Realtors and others have poured into township hall just east of the lake this year to meet with Kurilla.

“You can’t keep up,” he said. “I would say this year is going to be the peak of this residential housing boom we are seeing.”

During the first 4 1/2 months of this year, Kurilla has approved 15 zoning permits for single-family homes. Their average cost is $364,180. The first five permits were $432,000, $302,000, $553,000, $540,000 and $433,000. More recently a permit was granted for a home costing nearly $1.06 million.

According to Realtor.com, the median sales price of a home in Mahoning County last month was $124,900. The figure is $126,800 in Trumbull County and $128,300 in Columbiana County.

INTERESTING HISTORY

Lake Milton has an interesting history. It was created with the construction of the Lake Milton dam in 1913 to hold back water from the Mahoning River needed by the steel industry in Youngstown.

The lake became a popular summer attraction in the 1930s. In Craig Beach, the town on the west shore, 17-year-old Dino Crocetti of Steubenville performed for the first time at the Craig Beach Dance Hall, according to the Ohio Historical Society and Craig Beach website. He later went on to fame as Dean Martin. But the beach town also had an amusement park with a roller coaster. The amusement park closed during the Great Depression.

Youngstown owned the lake until about 1986, when the dam badly needed repairs, according to Lake Milton resident Paul Wolf, who was head of an association of Lake Milton residents for many years. Youngstown’s then-Mayor Pat Ungaro threatened to let out the water, and the state provided money for repairs, which required the lake to be drained from 1986 to 1988. When the repairs were finished, the lake filled back up. The state also took over the lake and turned it into a state park.

The newfound stability of the lake under state control led to construction of water and sewer lines starting around 1990, which helped develop the northeast part of the lake, Wolf said. That led to cottages being turned into year-round homes, Kurilla said.

A 10,700-square-foot lakefront home on Countyline Road built by Alliance auto dealer Wally Armour in 2001 cost more than $1 million. It sold in 2017 for $1.8 million.

“In the 1940s, ’50s, ’60s, you had modest 700-, 800-, 900-foot cottages basically, people coming out to enjoy the recreational activities,” Kurilla said. “Then you started having really substantial square-footage houses, which are the lakefront houses.”

The $20 million of water and sewer projects took place from 2005 to 2007, according to the Mahoning County Sanitary Engineer’s Office. They served much more of the lakefront areas, Wolf said.

About four years ago, residential construction started to increase, both in the number of homes and the cost, according to data from Kurilla and the county building inspection department.

Because of the size, cost and appearance of many of the new homes that have gone up since 2017, some people have dubbed them “McMansions.” A drive around the lake shows many new homes being constructed, and most are impressive to see. The lakefront lots typically are small, but one way around that is to build deep instead of wide and to build multiple stories.

“In January, we had five right out of the box. In February we had two. Another one in March, four in April and three in May so far,” he said of permits for new homes.

“We shake our head. We’ve never seen anything like this. It’s just amazing,” Kurilla said.

“When I started in 2013 here, lakefront lot cost (was) in the $150,000 to $175,000 range depending on what part of the lake it was. In November of last year, we had a lot sell for $525,000, just the lot,” he said. It is a 90-foot wide lakefront site.

Asked why the big increase now, Kurilla said low interest rates is his only answer. He noted construction costs have risen considerably since COVID-19 hit, but it hasn’t stopped the flow of new homes in the township. “You would think that would be a depressing factor, but the ultimate driving factor is favorable, low interest rates.”

He said a couple of people have purchased property in the township but plan to wait a while to build, hoping materials costs will decline.

REALTOR’S PERSPECTIVE

Realtor Connie Tarr, who lived at Lake Milton for 18 years, said water, sewer and natural gas lines opened up residential development and eliminated lake contaminants.

“Once the sewer lines were in, those little cottages that were worth $20,000 now became vacant parcels worth $100,000,” she said. “People were now able to build mini McMansions on lots that were 200 by 300 or 200 by 400. Without sewer, you can’t do that. You can’t do it with septic systems.”

The Wally Armour home, the first “McMansion,” set an example, Tarr said.

“After that, the boom just took off. Everybody wanted to have a summer home. Plus there were influential people out there,” she said, mentioning the mall-developer Cafaro family as an example. “Everybody wants to say, ‘I live near the Cafaros,'” she said.

“Plus now the lake was clean again. You could swim in it. That’s what started the Lake Milton craze. Not only that, it’s a recreational lake, which means there is no limit on boat motor sizes. And they have to keep (the lake) at maximum water level for recreational purposes.”

Tarr’s research indicates that since May 2017, four homes at Lake Milton have sold for more than $1 million, the most expensive one being Armour’s home. Another four homes sold for between $570,000 to $800,000 during that time.

According to the National Association of Realtors, the median home sales price in the United States this year through April was $329,100, a record-breaking increase of 17 percent from last year.

Tarr, of eXp Realty, said the real estate market is “crazy” in more places than just Lake Milton.

“We are getting 10 to 15 offers on every house,” she said of real estate throughout the Mahoning Valley. “We are having buyers waive appraisals, home inspections and offering more cash over and above what it appraises for because of the multiple offer situation. I’ve been in the business 30 years and I’ve never seen anything like it.”

She agrees the low interest rates are the reason.

“When you have a young couple and they can get 2.5 percent interest rate, you can now buy a $160,000 house and have the same payment as you would have had at 5 percent five years ago for a $100,000 house,” she said. She said young professionals are the demographic most likely to buy.

“For every $150,000 home that goes up for sale, there are 10 to 20 offers on it within 48 hours. That drives up the sales price.”

Jeff Uroseva, chief building official for Mahoning County, provided statistics from building permits dating back to 2016, which confirm residential construction in Milton Township has boomed since 2017, rising from five permits in 2016 to 15 in 2020.

LONGTIME RESIDENT

Wolf was president for 12 years of the Lake Milton Association, which supports the interests of Lake Milton residents. He has owned his property since the 1980s, when it was a summer cottage. He has lived there full time since 2001.

In 1986, before the state took over the lake, the city sold Wolf the property on which his cottage rested. “Most of these places, there was no septic system.” People used holding tanks, but sewage was “polluting the lake,” he said.

That led to the first sewers being constructed around 1990 along Northeast River Road. An additional $20 million in projects extended water and sewer lines on the east and west sides of the lake, including about 1,300 homes in Milton and Jackson townships and Craig Beach, according to newspaper files.

Wolf said Lake Milton residents have “different trains of thought” about the development of so many expensive homes in the past two decades.

“A lot of people are concerned about property taxes,” he said. “Our property taxes are extremely high. I think a lot of them feel if they are going to pay a lot for their property taxes, they want something for their money.

“If I am sitting in the middle of million-dollar homes, I guess my taxes are going to reflect that,” he said. “I think the majority of people are happy to live here. That’s why we keep getting more and more people coming out here.”