The City of Weyburn has posted its second record-breaking year in a row for dollar-value of their building permits, with a promise of a busy construction year to come in 2012.
The city's Building Department issued a total of 170 building permits for 2011 worth $70.4 million, said Doug Mulhall, chief building inspector and manager of community services for the City of Weyburn.
There were more permits issued in 2010, with 178 permits, but the dollar value for that year was $41.4 million, which also set a record for construction in the city.
This year's permits included 42 new single family dwellings, and 28 units in multi-family dwellings (such as apartments and condos), for a total of 70 dwelling units for the year. In 2010, that record also included 109 dwelling units, said Mulhall.
He pointed out that this year there were virtually no new residential lots available for sale by the city.
"Having that in mind, I'm very pleased the number of dwelling units reached 70. I think that was a very good achievement; that's a good thing for the city of Weyburn," said Mulhall. He added that Weyburn has some definite needs, such as more rental accommodations, and residences "that are more affordable than a typical single-family dwelling."
The year-end building permit numbers were recently released for Regina, noted Mulhall, where they also posted a record for building permits at $547 million. On a per capital basis, Weyburn's $70 million was much higher than Regina's totals were.
Mulhall pointed out two large projects accounted for Weyburn's record-breaking year, including the major project at the Weyburn Comp School, along with the construction of a new SaskPower office on Ebel Road, on the city's southeast end.
"Even without those two projects, we're close to a record year. All things considered, we had a good year for construction, with strong economic activities to continue through into 2012. It bodes well for the future," said Mulhall.
The city is continuing to work with developers, who are either interested in working with developing raw land or developing more multi-family dwelling units. "I do expect we'll see a fairly busy year," said Mulhall.
Meantime, the city did open some new residential lots in December, but only three were sold.
Mulhall admits the higher prices of these lots is a factor, but also pointed out they were made available in December, when most people aren't willing to start construction of a new house, plus the streets and sidewalks have yet to be put in, so the muddy area is a deterrent to people trying to get in to a house construction site.
The city has a policy of pricing their lots on a cost-recovery basis, indicating the price is based on what it cost the city to build them, noted Mulhall.
Besides the high prices of materials, said Mulhall, other factors include that the city has planned for larger city lots than most communities have, plus there are wide streets and lanes, and all of these have an effect on the total cost of building and planning new lots.
These other features were a part of the new lots because this is what the public wants generally, said Mulhall; if the public wants a reduction in the cost of the lots, he said they could look at removing the back lane, or reducing the size of the lots.
"We've been reluctant to change the design, because that's what the public wants," said Mulhall.
Looking at the "big picture" for the city, however, Mulhall also pointed out these lot prices help the city pay for such amenities as the water treatment plant, sewage lagoons, waste disposal and so on, all of which need to be expanded as the population grows.
"It's necessary for us to do those things to be responsible, and have a good financial basis," he explained.
That said, the city will review their lot designs if necessary, but he pointed out the city has wanted to avoid smaller-sized lots or neighbourhoods of a higher density.
"It has a significant impact on the cost as well, and we've been reluctant to make those changes, because it's a part of the charater of our community," said Mulhall.
He is optimistic that the coming year will be a busy one for construction in Weyburn, with some multi-family dwellings underway, and some in the discussion stages.
The proposed developments for the South Hill have not been shelved yet, he added, but they are in a "wait-and-see" mode at the current time.
