There was a noticeable cooling off of building permit activity in North Battleford in 2013.
That's based on the final building permit numbers presented to council Monday and compiled by Building Inspector Jerry Wintonyk.
A total of 121 building permits were issued in 2013 for a total value of $20,544,900. That is down from 126 permits for $43,320,900.
In general, a few categories saw declines in 2013, but the biggest hit came in the categories of new apartment complexes and new condos.
A big "nil" was recorded in each category. The year before, there was one new apartment complex for $900,000 and four new condos for $17,883,000. Wintonyk confirmed that much of that latter number from 2012 was due to the large-scale Caleb Group seniors' development that went up near the former Kinsmen Aquatic Centre site.
New dwellings fell from 16 permits for $4,158,500 to 10 for $2,592,000. New duplexes were down from two for $645,000 to one for $253,000.
Commercial alterations also took a hit for the year from 16 for $9,248,400 to 11 for $6,884,500, and new institutional fell from one for $1,225,000 to one for $80,000.
Still, it was not all doom and gloom as some categories showed improvement. Ten industrial alterations were issued for $5,793,000, compared to eight for $786,500. Two new commercial permits were issued for $950,000, up from nil the year before, and signs also increased from five for $154,000 to nine for $270,000. Removal/demolitions were also up from nine for $94,000 in 2012 to 10 for $230,500 in 2013.
There was a mixed bag of residential alterations, which increased from 35 to 41 in 2013 although the value declined from $752,500 to $462,900. Institutional alterations were unchanged at five permits, but the value increased from $635,000 to $1,398,000. Garage/carports remained virtually the same, recording 17 for $357,000 compared to 18 for $347,000 the year before.
The overall numbers follow what was a typical slow month of building activity in December. Three permits were issued for $147,000 last month, compared to four for $125,500 issued the year before.
Last month's numbers saw two commercial alteration permits issued for $47,000 while one sign permit was issued for $100,000.
While building permit numbers may have cooled down in the city, 2013 remained a year of growth on the building permit side in North Battleford. Among individual building permit highlights for 2013, the U of S/Cargill project received a permit in the Industrial Renovation category valued at $4.8 million while the Kramer Building project was valued under Commercial Renovations at $6,526,000.
In addition to those numbers was more positive news about new building plans.
The latest one presented Monday by Wintonyk was news that Battlefords and District Co-op's long-talked-about convenience store, gas bar and car wash development is going ahead at 667 Carlton Trail.
That development is on land near Walmart, which itself is going ahead with a major expansion to accommodate a grocery store addition.
The Walmart building plan had been presented to council at a meeting earlier in the month.
"We're off to a big start," Wintonyk said, referring to the Walmart expansion as well as the Co-op building plan.
The gas bar is going on the former Murphy Oil location on the southeast corner of the Walmart parking lot. Battlefords and District Co-op purchased the land last year and council approved rezoning of a portion of the land for the new development at a special meeting in July.
Ground work has been underway at the site of the new Co-op gas bar over this past month. The building plan presented Monday calls for the convenience store to be 2,709 square feet while the one-bay automatic carwash would be 1,399 square feet. A total of 18 parking stalls are required and 21 are approved on the building plan. Total value of the project is estimated at $4.1 million.
