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Building permits down in first quarter

Permits for the first quarter of 2015 were down mostly because of a hospital expansion work that spiked last year's permit values.

Arne Petryshen

Building permits for the first quarter of 2015 were down dramatically, but that is mostly because of a hospital expansion work that spiked last year's permit values. This quarter of 2015 saw a total construction value of around $2.2 million compared to $22.6 million for the first quarter of 2014.

"You can see that the first quarter of 2015 isn't quite what it was in 2014," CAO Wayne Staudt said. "A couple of major items can make a big difference. Of course the big one is the institutional that took place in 2014 that is the work that is taking place on the hospital."

Staudt noted that the first quarter of 2015 saw four new housing starts (single family) and one manufactured homes on foundation as compared to seven new housing starts (single family) and three manufactured homes on foundation in 2014.

A total of 48 building permits were issued in the first quarter of 2015 as compared to 50 for the same period in 2014.

"We're also down a little bit on the residential and the commercial," Staudt said. And again all you need is one of those commercial projects and it pushes is up quite significantly."

• Residential building permits were down to $1,481,700 from $ 2,332,569 in the first quarter of 2014.

• Commercial building permits dropped to $575,931 in 2015 from $4,956,925 in 2014.

• Industrial dropped to $26,715 in 2015, from $165,000 in 2014.

• Institutional permits were way down to $30,000 in 2015, from $15,044,500 in 2015.

• Government permits stayed level at $0 for both quarters.

• Sign permits dropped to $50,642, from $71,190 in 2014.

But Staudt said he expects building to remain at levels seen in previous years.

"By the end of the year, with the exception of the institutional, I would expect 2015 to look very much like 2014."