Residential builds have been up in Melfort in 2020. (Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Building Permits

Building permits up in Melfort, even amid COVID-19 pandemic

Nov 18, 2020 | 3:33 PM

Even amid a global pandemic, building permits are up in 2020 in the City of Melfort.

The city presented council its building permit report to the end of October at Monday’s regular meeting. The numbers show over $10.5 million worth of permits were handed out in 2020.

Brent Lutz, Melfort’s director of community development and planning said Melfort is rich with people able to do this kind of work.

“It’s great to be able to rely on local contractors,” he said. “And certainly, the community has been blessed with many local contractors that are qualified to carry out these projects.”

The permit amount is $1.5 million more than what the city saw a year ago at the same time. Lutz said despite the pandemic and its uncertainties, people are still looking at Melfort for their new builds.

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“What we’re seeing is more residential homes were built this year over last year,” Lutz told northeastNOW. “We had seven new single family homes constructed this year so far, compared to five last year.”

Meanwhile, commercial construction was a bit on the lower end this year, but it was brought up by the industrial sector of building as well. Lutz said there isn’t much concern with lower commercial because there is a bit of a cycle.

“Residential growth is a significant factor to show that your community is growing, your population is growing, your assessment base is growing,” he said. “And then that attracts business.”

Lutz said even if they weren’t to hand out many more permits before the end of 2020, this year would still be above 2019 and he’s calling it “above average” overall.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6