Apple Valley family's 122 acres set for development

When Alan Kohls purchased a townhouse in the Cobblestone Lakes development of Apple Valley three years ago, he was excited to discover the view from his bedroom window included the two remaining buildings on the farm he grew up on.

Today, in the name of progress, he is just as pleased to know the 122 acres soon will provide him with some new neighbors.

The Apple Valley Planning Commission on Wednesday recommended to the City Council that zoning for the land at County Road 42 and Pilot Knob Road be changed from "sand and gravel" to "multiple family residential" to allow the building of a housing development.

The recommendation comes with an adjustment in the plan to include a section of single-family homes along the eastern edge of the property. The City Council is expected to approve the change next Thursday.

According to Peter Fischer, who owns the property with his sister, Liza Robson, a purchase agreement has been in place with a developer for a couple of months. He expects to close on the deal in October following the expected approval of the City Council.

The developer has asked to keep his name private until the deal is finalized. "He has done projects in the south metro before," Fischer said. "He's well known."

Fischer's dad, Mathias, purchased the property from Charles Kohls in 1974. He applied for a permit to mine gravel on the property in 1979, but wasn't given approval until 1994.

Alan and Ron Kohls noted that their grandfather purchased the property for $16,000 in 1919 -- nearly $200,000 in today's dollars. Fischer and Robson soon will receive millions in the latest sale.

For Alan Kohls and his brother Ron, who also lives in Cobblestone Lake, the memories of growing up on the farm forever will be priceless. "When I look out one of my windows there is a light where our yard light used to be," Ron Kohls said.

The farmhouse was razed in the summer of 2000. The Kohls brothers' dad, Charles, died that fall.

As part of the agreement, three acres will be sold to Apple Valley for expansion of adjacent Lebanon Cemetery. Alan and Ron Kohls' parents are buried there.

"The cemetery expanded onto our land and in 2001, we moved his grave to be on the farm, which had been his request," Alan Kohls said.