Home construction seems to be leading the way in new building work in Kamloops.
Last month there was almost $16 million worth of permits issued for residential construction in Kamloops bringing the total value on the residential side through the first quarter of 2020 to almost $38.3 million. In terms of overall permit approvals, the city has approved more than $46.6 million worth of work.
Speaking on The Jeff Andreas Show, Building and Engineering Development Manager Jason Dixon says it hasn’t seen much of a slow down yet.
“Just sort of reviewing applications that we’ve seen in the last couple weeks. [Monday] alone we had five applications on the residential side. Seeing a bit of a shift, probably a slow down. We only had one new house in that and four of the applications were for renovations, improvements, additions, that kind of thing.”
As to whether activity will slow down as a result of COVID-19, Dixon says we will probably see an effect of some kind moving forward, but it is just too hard to predict what that might look like at this time.
“Really is an ebb and and a flow and it is early in the year. I know we have 60 to 70 permits in the commercial, industrial, institutional que. So there’s a lot of projects there that we need to get to and I expect those numbers will definitely come around as the year goes on.”
Dixon says last month’s data largely incorporated projects that were already in the que and in process when the COVID-19 situation started to take effect.
“I would expect that we’re going to see an effect of some kind going forward. I can’t imagine that we wouldn’t see an effect, but at this point, depending on how long this lasts, it’s just too hard to crystal ball what the effect might be.”
And he says it is very close to finalizing a permit for the Valleyview Secondary expansions and is hoping to issue that sometime this month.
“That’s a big projects. That’s a great community project that I think a lot of people will be excited to see, especially the people that use Valleyview Secondary School.” Dix adds is also working on issuing a permit for work at the Royal Inland Hospital.
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