Street after street of handsome colonials, well-manicured lawns, and cul-de-sacs with sports-playing kids make the area around Lawton Elementary feel more like a suburb than a city. The Lawton area includes established neighborhoods inside the freeway ring, newer ones to the southwest in Pittsfield Twp., and a section of rural Lodi Twp. to the west.
Around the school itself, south of Scio Church Rd., there are a variety of split-levels and colonials. Farther south, the simple two-story homes on Northbrook Dr. date from the 1980s, as do the 217-unit Meadowbrook Village apartments off Ann Arbor–Saline Rd. just north of I-94.
Across I-94 in Pittsfield Twp., the 1990s-era Arbor Creek and Boulder Ridge subdivisions line the west side of the freeway, tucked behind Oak Valley Center. Arbor Creek provides large two-story cul-de-sac homes with tidy lawns. The colonial-style Boulder Ridge has a playground park, and the two subdivisions share a common area with a walking path. The 192-unit Centerra Pointe town house apartments sit tightly clustered on eighteen acres along Oak Valley, across from Boulder Ridge and Arbor Creek. Uptown Ann Arbor’s lofts and townhomes at Ann Arbor–Saline Rd. and Oak Valley offer a more urban feel, with some lofts perched above retail space. The Townes on the Green, a complex of sixty-four luxury town homes starting at $459,000, are now available for purchase on Waters Rd. west of Oak Valley.
South of Waters is the Hawthorne Ridge subdivision, whose two-story homes boast big garages and vaulted brick entrances. Beyond Lake Forest Golf Club lie small brick ranches, two-story houses, and open fields; homes are set far back down long driveways.
Farther west, Lodi Twp. has active farms, including a few horse farms. Along Wagner are older country homes with vegetable gardens and big yards with lots of trees, and sometimes a tractor or dilapidated barn.
Students are bused to Lawton from the Pinelake Village Cooperative, a 1960s-vintage federal project on S. Maple with 129 townhouses.
Lawton grads go to Slauson Middle School and then Pioneer High.
Bike lanes: Scio Church Rd. has a marked bike lane, S. Main has a protected cycle lane, and S. Seventh has a buffered cycle lane. Ann Arbor–Saline Rd., W. Oakbrook, and Eisenhower have off-street paths. Several smaller roads are designated as “neighborhood connectors,” with signs to guide cyclists through the neighborhood.
Walking: Lawton School has a Walk Score of 28. This is another area in which suburban sections are actually more walkable than those in the city: Many subdivisions near Ann Arbor–Saline Rd. and Oak Valley are close to Meijer and other stores and restaurants south of I-94.