Bradford’s construction values may be up again, but building permit fee revenue is still down.
William Wong, chief building official, outlined the building permit activity in Bradford between July 1 and Sept. 30 of this year in a report received by council during its Nov. 21 meeting.
In that time, the town issued 128 building permits, with 101 for residential occupancy, seven for assembly occupancy, seven for industrial occupancy, six for business and personal occupancy, six for mercantile occupancy, and one for farm building occupancy.
That’s decreased about 46 per cent from the 239 permits issued for the same period in 2022, and while construction value increased about 17 per cent to about $61.9 million in 2023 compared to about $52.7 million in the same period in 2022, the building permit fees collected decreased about 30 per cent to $496,721 in 2023, compared to $710,657 in 2022.
That bucks the trend of decreased construction value seen last quarter, but follows the trend of decreased revenue.
Ward 6 Coun. Nickolas Harper asked Wong for his insights on why there was “such a significant decrease” in the quarter year over year, and Wong explained that market forces, and especially interest rates, have led to a general slow down, especially on the residential side.
While acknowledging that trend, Harper then asked if there was anything the town could do to incentivize growth.
“We try to look at how to streamline our process, like building, planning, engineer. We would do the best to make it easy to get a permit and keep people happy,” Wong said.
Mayor James Leduc agreed, adding the town is also undertaking reviews of zoning and bylaws to be more efficient.
“We absolutely want to streamline our process no matter what. We want to be ready for the future,” he said, adding that when the residential side of the market dips, the industrial side usually picks up as a “silver lining.”
However, when it comes to the town’s own projects, Deputy Mayor Raj Sandhu was still concerned with the timelines for permit approvals, noting it took three months for the town to issue a permit for work on its own Water Pollution Control Plant at 225 Dissette St.
Wong noted the project involved an application for an alternative solution, in which the designer, architect or engineer is looking for a way to provide an equivalent solution to meet the building code.
“I used to be very proactive, but sometimes, I cannot babysit them. The ball is in their court, so it’s up to them,” he said.
While Wong can’t manage every applicant, “when the project is our own town’s project, maybe we do need to babysit, because one end is costing the other end,” Sandhu said.
According to the report of the 101 residential permits issued during the quarter, new development included 42 units:
- First View Homes – two detached
- Country Wide Himes – nine detached
- Sundance Homes – 27 detached
- Regal Bond Crest Homes – one detached
- Infill – three detached
Other notable permits issued during the quarter include two permits for proposed hotels — the Comfort Inn at 585 Holland St. W. issued on June 28 and the Fairfield Inn at 136 Stirling Cres. issued on July 18.
The latter of those is the same location in which a previous hotel burned down while under construction on April 10, 2021, and has since been partially rebuilt.
