City hall issued nearly $14 million worth of building permits during this year’s third quarter, while it has issued over $55 million in permits so far this year.
From July to August, the planning and development department issued building permits totalling $13,787,147, while those numbers were $18,611,180 last year and $4,664,452 two years ago, a third-quarter report from city hall explained.
Meanwhile, from Jan. 1 to Sept. 30 of this year, the department has approved building permits worth $55,234,835, while during the same time last year, that figure was $26,358,438, and was $17,212,823 during the same time two years ago.
This means building permit values are up $28.8 million compared to 2020 year-to-date (YTD).
“We’re having an incredible year … . We look forward to that same type of activity coming next year,” city manager Jim Puffalt said during the recent city council meeting. “There are a number of projects underway and we are in the process of discussing (those).”
These figures are so high this year because city hall issued building permits to SaskPower’s Great Plains Power Station, the Canadian Tire project, and a new hotel in the Grayson Business Park, he explained.
“It’s been a really good economic year for us and there is still another month to go,” added Puffalt.
Building permits
The planning and development department has issued 180 building permits YTD compared to 198 permits during the same time last year, the report continued.
During this year’s third quarter, it issued 10 permits for the construction of accessory buildings, four permits for demolition, eight permits for enhancements to government/institutional buildings, seven permits for industrial/commercial development and 29 permits for residential development, for 58 total permits.
In comparison, the department issued 85 permits during Q3 2020 and 81 permits during Q3 2019.
Business licences
City hall issued 34 new business licences during this year’s third quarter, while 14 licences were renewed and 10 were closed, the report said. Year-to-date, those numbers are 174, 1,535, and 65, respectively.
In comparison, the city issued 44 new business licences during Q3 last year, renewed 17 and closed two. YTD for 2020, those numbers were 135, 1,686, and 122, respectively.
In 2019, there were 57 new licences in the third quarter, 23 were renewed and eight were closed. YTD, those numbers were 181, 1,731, and 130, respectively.
Projects
Some projects that the planning and development department pursued during Q3 2021 included approving a new hotel for the Grayson Business Park and working to sell 13 one-acre serviced lots and 24 acres of unserviced land.
It also received an offer to purchase request from a company for the former Union Hospital site. The company is proposing to build a 220-unit housing project.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Dec. 6.
