Total construction value in Owen Sound in 2021 was down from the year prior, when a number of major projects broke ground in the city.
A report from the city’s chief building official Kevin Linthorne on the agenda for the community services committee meeting this week says construction value in 2021 for Owen Sound totalled $36.5-million, down from $66.4-million in 2020.
The city took in more than $430,000 in permit fees in 2021, which was a decline from 2020 when more than $696,000 was collected.
The number of residential permits issued last year also fell compared to 2020. The report says Owen Sound issued 91 residential permits in 2021, down from 119 the year prior.
While the overall development value in Owen Sound was down in 2021 compared to the prior year, it should be noted the permit values from 2020 were buoyed higher by just a few major projects. Some of those included a 126-unit retirement home built on 14th Street East ($20-million), a 160-bed long-term care facility on 16th Avenue East ($20-million) and a five-storey, 60-unit apartment building at Odawa Heights ($10-million).
“It ebbs and flows, it is down but … the planning department and engineering department looks at these things sometimes two to three years before you see the building permit show up,” says Owen Sound Mayor Ian Boddy while speaking on The Open Line on 560 CFOS. “And then it’s another couple of years before you start to see the doors open and people moving in. There’s a whole bunch of things that will come to the market, rentals, in about April to June this year.”
For the month of December itself, Owen Sound actually saw a slight year-over-year increase in total construction value at $2.37-million, up from $1.48-million during the same month in 2020.