Huntsville continues to see growth in its construction sector, with the construction value of building permits issued in 2018 exceeding 2017 by more than $20 million.
In 2017, 835 permits were issued with a construction value of $78,903,193, while in 2018 there were 843 with a construction value of $100,006,621.
Of the 843 applications received last year, 768 permits were issued for development including 148 new permanent and seasonal dwellings, six apartments and two commercial or industrial buildings, noted Chris Nagy, Chief Building Official, in a report to Huntsville’s Development Services Committee.
Thirteen of those projects had a value exceeding one million dollars, including a three-building development at Grandview, an affordable housing project on Highview Drive, an addition to the Canadian Tire building, the redeveloped Canadian Tire gas bar (pending planning approval), an interior renovation to the Metro store, a nine-unit condo building at Treetops, a structural/interior alteration to a building on Crescent Road and four private residential applications including two alteration permits and two new construction permits, he added.
Another 25 projects fell within the five to nine hundred thousand dollar ($500,000 – $900,000) construction value range. In addition, 187 new residential construction and commercial alteration projects had a construction value of between $100,000 to $500,000. The remaining more than 500 projects involved less than $100,000 in construction value, but their cumulative total construction value was $11,007,655.
In 2018, building permit revenues amounted to $1,073,695, an increase of more than $170,000 over 2017. Department costs were $686,176—the largest component of which was salaries, wages and benefits at $475,373—for a surplus of $387,519.
“(Building Code Act) enforcement has become a highly technical profession and staff must complete extensive training to meet qualifications required by legislation,” noted Nagy in his report. “Interestingly, insurance costs have risen due to claims received from older building permits that were issued when the attainability of training and accreditation requirements was not at the level it is now.”
Nagy said that permit applications have been steady so far in 2019, with one to two applications filed per day. “I think this is going to be another busy year,” he said.
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