Commercial and industrial additions helped get the city’s 2012 building stats off to a good start.
In January, building permits issued by the city amounted to $2,189,660. This represents a 285 per cent over January 2011.
Coun. Alan Harrison noted, it was the best January Salmon Arm has seen since 2001.
“I’m not foolish enough to say that’s going to continue through the whole year… but we need to celebrate what we’ve got,” said Harrison. “We’ve got great building stats for the month of January, over $2 million. I don’t think it’s been like that, ever.”
The strong January figure is attributed to $775,000 in permits for commercial additions, and $634,500 for additions to industrial. Additions to single family dwellings also jumped since last year, from $61,515 to $200,160. However, permits for new single family dwellings were down, $507,130 to $380,000.
Coun. Chad Eliason said he thinks the city will continue to benefit from commercial and industrial development this year, to be followed by residential development.