South Frontenac Construction set to surpass all previous years

Jeff Green | Aug 10, 2022

In 2021, construction values in South Frontenac recovered from the pandemic induced slowdown in 2020, to surpass 2019 levels.

Permits for over $44 million in construction were issued in 2021, up from $39 million in 2019.

But those numbers are being dwarfed by the frenetic activity in 2022. In the first six months of the year, permits for over $40 million in construction value were issued, including $24 million in the 2nd quarter alone.

Permits for 51 new homes were issued in the first six months of this year, 36 classed as single homes and 15 as seasonal dwellings.

Based on a request by Council, the building department is also tracking the number of days it takes for the department to process different kinds of permits, as a measure of how well it is able to keep up with the demand for building services.

So far this year, permits for new dwellings take between 30 and 35 days on average. With the hiring of a new inspector in June.

“It is anticipated that this additional position will reduce the average timelines for review reported on in the Q3-2022 report,” according to the Q2-2022 quarterly building report to Council that was prepared by the intake coordinator Peggy Spafford.

The report was presented to Council at their August 9th meeting.

Central Frontenac moves ahead of 2021

For the last couple of months, Central Frontenac Chief Building Official has been telling Council that any lag behind the construction numbers from last year in his monthly reports has been due to him playing catch-up preparing permits.

In this month's report, 2022 ($8.9 million) has now pulled ahead of 2021 ($8.6 million) in construction value, while the number of permits is still down, 66 as compared to 83 at this point last year. Hinchinbrooke District has been the busiest in the township so far this year, with 23 permits issued, followed by Oso (18) Kennebec (15) and Olden (10).

Indications are that the township will surpass all previous years in construction activity, with the exception of 2014 when the construction permits for the $17million Granite Ridge Education Centre supplemented residential construction numbers.