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RDN reports building permits in second quarter up 25 per cent

Construction activity in regional district higher than provincial average
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The Regional District of Nanaimo continues to handle a high volume of building permits this year.

In his report to the Electoral Areas Services Committee Tuesday, Sept. 12, manager of building, bylaw and emergency planning services Tom Armet indicated that the building permit activity in the regional district remains strong in the last three years, at a level higher than the provincial average in both residential and commercial developments.

The trend is reflected in the RDN’s second -quarter report, covering the period from April to June, that shows a 25 per cent rise in permit applications over the same period in 2016 and 44 per cent more than the 2015 figures.

Construction in the regional district was mostly residential, the report stated, with only a small amount of building permits issued for commercial or industrial developments.

In the first six months of 2017, the RDN processed 447 building permit applications.

From April to June, the regional district approved 230 permits, compared to 179 permits over the same period in 2016 and 165 permits in 2015.

They represent an overall construction value of $46.1 million, a 54 per cent increase from the second quarter results in 2016 and 102 per cent increase over the 2015 totals.

As for non-residential activity, there were only 25 permits issued in the second quarter, valued at $5.2 million. There were 10 non-residential permits issued for the same period in 2016, and 21 in 2015.

The seven electoral areas, particularly Areas A, E and F, experienced high building activity levels in the second quarter.

Area F, which encompasses Coombs, Hilliers and Errington, had a 50 per cent increase to 41 building permits in the second quarter this year, up from 19 over the same period in 2016 and 20 in 2015. The construction value is around $3.8 million.

In other regions, Area E went up to 45 building permits this year from April to June compared to 30 in 2016 and 38 in 2015. Area G had a slight increase to 33 building permits from 31 in 2016 and 27 in 2015.

The only region that showed no increase was Area H, which experienced a decrease with only 13 building permits issued, nine fewer than last year’s figures.

RDN staff indicated the length of time to approve permits in the first quarter of 2017 was two to three weeks but, due to the high volume of applications, the turnaround increased to three to four weeks in the second quarter, which is typically the busiest period for construction activity.



Michael Briones

About the Author: Michael Briones

I rejoined the PQB News team in April 2017 from the Comox Valley Echo, having previously covered sports for The NEWS in 1997.
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