BUILDER'S PLANS ON SCHEDULE

JACKSON -- French developer Pascal Dunod's plan to build houses and a French bakery and restaurant on land purchased from Pioneer Orchard is moving ahead according to schedule, says Dunod's agent here.

Eighty lots have been surveyed and platted in preparation for an expected friendly annexation by the city in the spring, Sharon Hopkins says. Hopkins expects construction to begin sometime in the summer.

Last June, Dunod announced his purchase of 109 acres of the orchard on Highway 72 West of Jackson. The land amounts to about one-third of Stanley and LaDonia Beggs' farm. The Beggses are Pioneer's owners.

Dunod is not a developer in France. He owns a business that installs swimming pools. He previously built housing and sewage systems under contract to Shell Oil in Gabon, Africa.

Hopkins met Dunod in 1995 when she answered an ad for a horse trainer. She spent three months in France training Dunod's two Appaloosas.

At her invitation, he came to Missouri in 1996. He has said the region's French heritage and its similarity to the place he grew up made an impression.

Before leaving Dunod asked Hopkins, a real estate agent, to find him some land. The Beggses, meanwhile, wanted to sell off some of their land while still remaining in the orchard business.

Dunod's project allows them to do that, and he also plans to incorporate some of the orchard's trees into the home sites.

The smallest lot in the development is 6/10 of an acre, the largest 1 1/4 acre. The houses, which are to incorporate hand-crafted tiles from France, probably will begin at $275,000, Hopkins said.

Hopkins is acting as Dunod's agent in his dealings with the city. Her husband Bill, who is the prosecuting attorney in Bollinger County, is Dunod's lawyer here.

Dunod will build a house for himself here but Hopkins says his family probably will remain in France -- they live in Grimaud, near Cannes and St. Tropez -- while school is in session.

None of the Dunods speak English although Pascal is learning. "He is not fluent," Hopkins said.

Jodie Brunke, daughter of Hopkins' friends Phyllis and Tony Brunke, spent last June in France visiting the Dunods' 14-year-old daughter Alexandra. Alexandra is expected to stay with the Brunkes this summer.

Jodie said the Dunods live in a town smaller than Jackson and have apple trees, a garden and horses. "We stayed at the French Riviera, and almost every day we went to the beach," she said.

A sophomore at Jackson High School, Jodie is studying French in school and is corresponding with Alexandra.

Dunod returned to Jackson for a visit over the holidays and brought his family, which also includes his wife Danielle and twin sons Mike and Edwin, 11.