Sean C. Morgan
Building activity is picking up in Sweet Home, according to city building officials.
“Values are clearly up,” said Community Development Director Carol Lewis. “There’s an awful lot of contractors telling us they’re ready to start new houses.”
Developers are finishing subdivisions, she said. Among them are 37th Circle and Foster View, the area east of 44th Avenue. All of the homes already started in Canyon Creek, at the south end of 10th Avenue, will be completed soon.
Even in remodels, the city’s seeing changes, Lewis said. The city is seeing additions instead of bathtub replacements, for example.
On the commercial side, Hevi Shot had its final inspection on Friday for a new building, and Sunshine Industries’ new facility is under construction.
“A lot of people are coming, asking questions,” said Permit Technician Molly Laycock, and there’s “a lot of inspections going on. It’s been kind of slow, but we have picked up quite a bit, and yes, the office can keep Mike busy. Overall, it’s been very positive, and I’m very pleased with that.”
As of the end of June, the city has issued 148 building permits, compared to 138 in the same period in 2012. By the end of June 2012, the city issued permits for five single-family structures and 12 remodels. In the same period this year, the city issued seven single-family residence permits and 15 remodels.
There have been four new construction permits and 14 permits for remodeling in the commercial sector, while last year, there was only a single commercial permit for new construction and nine for remodeling.
The value of the projects has been much higher in 2013 compared to 2012.
So far this year, residential projects have been worth $1.5 million, up from $926,000 in the entire year 2012. In commercial, value was $1.1 million at the end of June. In all of 2012, the value of commercial projects was $1 million.
Building inspection revenues were at the third highest since 2008, a little more than $30,000, in the second quarter of 2013. Revenue reached $50,000 in the first quarter of 2008. In the last quarter of 2009, city revenues from the program reached nearly $35,000. In the second quarter of this year, the city received some $30,000 in revenues.
“We’ve heard there’s going to be two or three new houses this week,” Lewis said. “If we have one to two years of good construction, then I would expect to see planning activities (which also have been limited for the past couple of years). We’re doing more inspections. We are getting ready to kick Mike (Remesnick) downstairs full time.”
Remesnick has been doing code enforcement 25 percent of the time and building inspections 75 percent of his time, Lewis said, and the city needs him in the Building Division full time to handle the activity.
One developer wanted to bring 10 new permits to the city at once, Lewis said. The city asked him to phase those projects because it has 10 days to complete plan reviews.
“It definitely feels busier,” Lewis said. “There’s no doubt about that.”