New building and development in the County of Stettler in 2012 exceeded just more than $14 million to keep pace with previous years.
“We are not tremendously up, be we’re keeping steady with permits and values in previous years,” said Johan van der Bank, the county director of planning and development.
Last year, the county recorded $14,226,615 in construction costs, down from $16,070,333 the previous year. That included a $7-million permit for Can Erector, which had planned to build a facility to manufacture flare stacks, but that progressed no further. However, a permit for $400,000 was issued for Flare Tech east of town boundaries for a company that develops flare stacks.
Overall, the county issued 102 total permits for $14,226,615, with $10,116,615 for 84 residential permits and $4,110,000 for 18 commercial permits.
In 2011, those figures included 89 total permits with $8,050,000 for 12 commercial permits and $8,010,333 for 77 residential permits.
Generation RV was considered a significant commercial addition. The company manufactures and repairs travel trailers.
For residential, the major permit was to develop a new Hutterite colony about two miles east of town.
The county projects continued steady development this year.
“I don’t expect a drastic increase in activity this year,” van der Bank said. “I expect it to be just as steady as in the past two years.”
With this growth, the county continues to review its municipal development plan and land-use bylaw, intermunicipal development plan with the Town of Stettler, and draft a major area structure plan with the town southeast of town.
An updated IDP with the summer villages of Rochon Sands and White Sands has also been drafted with a public hearing set for May 4 in Erskine. Two other major industrial projects are in the works, with a seedcleaning plant on a site in the Warden area, and a coal-crushing plant east of Donalda on Highway 53.
Land has also opened to build a truck stop on Highway 12 on a 15- acre site on the eastern outskirts of town boundaries across from 38 Street for a proposed hotel/motel, convenience store and restaurant, with smaller lots for other opportunities.