Investment in both the town and county of Stettler continue to rise compared to the year earlier, though numbers aren’t as high as they were in 2008, prior to the recession.
In the county, the value of residential permits from January to June of 2014 is estimated to be $6,340,000, slightly less than the same period last year, though commercial permits have almost doubled in value, coming in at $1,076,000.
The county tracks development permits, according to Johan van der Bank, since it doesn’t issue the building permits themselves.
These permits are good for a year, and basically say the property is ready to be used in the fashion determined by the permit.
Communication towers part of growth
Agricultural, oil and gas buildings, so long as they are set back 150 feet from the road, do not require permits so the numbers involving those types of construction aren’t tracked, van der Bank noted.
A “spate” of permits were issued for communication towers this year, van der Bank said.
Big jump in commercial permits
The town is about on par for last year as well, doing better in some fields than in others.
Leann Graham, who handles the permits for the town, tracks building permits rather than development permits.
Last year, there were no industrial permits issued until July, she noted. This year, $355,000 worth of permits were handed out in that category.
Commercial permits have more than doubled in the first half of 2014, bringing in projects estimated at $3,295,111 over last year’s $1,912,600.
However, permits are down slightly in residential at $1,159,824 or roughly $600,000 less than this time last year.
Institutional permits are valued at roughly $486,200, an increase over last year’s $198,480.
Graham noted that permit activity for the town is up from last year, “primary due to the January permit for a multi-tenant building at the end of Main Street valued at just over $1.2 million,” she wrote in an email. She added that the numbers are lower than 2012, though, due to the Points West Living permit that year, which was valued at $8.6 million.