Building boom sets new record in W. Kelowna

The final numbers are in and West Kelowna did indeed have a record-breaking building boom last year.

The municipality issued 649 building permits for construction worth $116.3 million in 2016.

It’s a big jump from the 507 permits for $65 million in 2015.

“We knew during the year, 2016 was going to far exceed any previous years by the number of applications and the quality of projects we were seeing,” said development services manager Nancy Henderson.

“To say we were extremely busy in 2016 is putting it mildly and so far in 2017 we are not seeing any signs of a slowdown. In fact, I would say we may be looking at another record-breaking year based on the interest we are seeing for larger-scale multiplefamily (condominium, townhouse and apartment) projects, something we haven’t seen a lot of since 2008.”

Of the 649 permits last year, 174 were for single-family homes, which is a record.

And 17 were for condo, apartment or townhouse buildings.

In 2015, of the 507 permits, 82 were for single-family homes and 13 were for condo, apartment or townhouse complexes.

Building permits are also issued for garages and other out buildings anad renovation projects, as well as commercial and industrial buildings, additions and improvements.

To cope with the increased volume, West Kelowna has implemented an application software system that streamlines and manages the application process.

Over the next few months, a public portal to this software will be opened to allow both applicants and the public to access information and monitor the status of applications.

More building permits issued means more application fees and development cost charges are collected to help fund infrastructure improvements associated with growth.

West Kelowna was one of the fastest-growing municipalities in the province with a 2.7 per cent increase in population in 2016 to 34,930.