North Battleford will end 2018 far ahead of last year’s building permit values totals.
That was confirmed Monday from numbers presented at the City’s planning committee meeting. Through September 2018, 107 permits have been issued for a total permit value of $23,643,100. That compared to 93 permits issued for $16,958,625 through September of last year.
Moreover, permit values for the year are now ahead of the final totals for 2017 and 2016 by roughly $6 million. That means North Battleford has topped both the 2017 and 2016 permit value totals with a full three months to spare.
It was an excellent month of September that put the City over the top. A total of 18 permits were issued for $6,857,500, up from the eight permits for $267,000 issued for the same month a year earlier.
The biggest driver of good news last month was the new commercial category. Two permits were issued for $4,918,000 in September, compared to zero in the same category in September 2017. One of those permits is for the new Magic Lantern movie theatre that is currently under construction downtown.
There were also seven commercial alteration permits issued for $1,381,500.
So far in 2018, there have been six new commercial permits issued for $16,248,550 and 22 commercial alterations for $3,322,500.
Councillors pointed to the big numbers as a sign of strong investor confidence in North Battleford.
“It just reminds me of Ultra Print’s poster up today: ‘W5 Missed the Good Stuff’,’” said Councillor Len Taylor.
“This is incredibly good stuff. People who don’t live here are investing here. That tells us that there are people across the country who think North Battleford has got a bright future.”
Director of Planning and Development Jennifer Niesink said at the meeting that a number of local businesses were also doing improvement and expansion, on top of the outside investment.
“It’s been a very good year for us,” Niesink said.
