Building is booming in Vernon.
By the end of June, the city had issued 500 planning and building applications, up 14.7 per cent from 436 during the first six months of 2015.
“We’re up across the board,” said Coun. Brian Quiring.
The building permit applications include 64 single-family dwellings, 44 single-family additions/renovations, 13 multi-family residences, three new commercial buildings and 30 commercial additions/renos.
The total value of the building permits over the six months is $91.2 million.
For just the second quarter, April to June, there were 39 new single-family permits, 27 single-family additions/renos, eight new multi-family permits and 21 commercial additions and renovations.
The value of the second quarter permits was $59.1 million.
Land use applications increased by 42.6 per cent in the first half of 2016 with 87 applications versus the same period in 2015 with 61 applications. They include development permits, rezoning, subdivision and soil removal/deposition.
Quiring isn’t exactly sure why construction is on the upswing in Vernon.
“Our relatively low housing costs compared to the rest of the province is likely helping,” he said.
And while there have been some concerns from the development community and the Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce about the time it takes city hall to process applications, Quiring believes the current statistics refute that criticism.
“Our staff is doing a fantastic job of moving through the applications in a timely fashion,” he said.
Over in Coldstream, building is also steady. For July alone, nine permits were issued with a total construction value of $2,418,000. This compares to 11 permits and construction value of $713,000 for July 2015.
Total construction value for 2016 in the district is catching up to last year, with only two fewer dwelling units than last year.