The numbers confirm it, construction levels jumped in 2021, big time.

Jeff Green | Jan 12, 2022

Township building department in Frontenac and L&A Counties are providing year end reporting this month on 2021construction activity, the trend towards record high numbers is consistent across the region.

In Addington Highlands, Chief Building Official David Twiddy said that about 150 building permits were issued, not including over 50 septic permits, a function that the township took over at the start of 2021 from Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington Public Health (KFLAPH), when KFLPAH stopped offering the service to align itself with provincial policies regarding its scope of service.

“The construction value was $6.7 million, the highest we have seen,” Twiddy said.

In North Frontenac, 30 new homes were constructed, 25 of them being waterfront homes. While the number of permits was up over 2020, at 135 they were lower than they had been in 2020. Construction value was over $12 million, $4.3 million higher than 2020 and almost $5 million higher than 2019.

In Central Frontenac, the increase was similar. The total construction value was $17.7 million, up from $13.3 million in 2020 and $11.1 million in 2019. Permits for 46 new homes were taken out, up from 32 in 2020 and 26 in 2019.

South Frontenac will not be reporting their year end stats until next week, but in October of last year, after the first three quarters of the year, and while the numbers had not jumped as dramatically as they have in North and Central Frontenac, the building department said that “the number of permits issued (excluding Part 8 permits) and construction value for 2021 is forecast to exceed the annual total in each of the last three years.”

Construction values stood at $33 million at that point, which was higher than the entire years values for three of the 4 previous years, and permits for 62 new homes had been issued for the first three quarters of the year.

And the planning departments in both South Frontenac and Frontenac County are reporting an increase in planning applications, indicating that construction activity will continue to be strong into the future. In South Frontenac, 65 new lots were created in 2021 through plan of subdivision and condominium approvals, and 71 new development agreements were completed, a new high.

Frontenac County provides planning services for Frontenac Islands, and North and Central Frontenac. The number of planning applications was up substantially over 2020, which had been a record year.

“We are fortunate that we hired a new planner” said Joe Gallivan, Director of Planning Services and Economic Development. “It has helped us to keep up.”

A report on the business case for a communal servicing corporation in Frontenac County, which would provide the opportunity for the development of privately owned water sewer systems in selected locations in Frontenac County, is expected to be brought forward in February.

It has the potential to greatly increase the diversity and volume of building projects in Frontenac County.

Currently, the construction of single family homes, with private wells and septic systems, is the only way to create new housing in Frontenac County, except within the Village of Sydenham.