Two housing projects, ranging in size from 105 units to 1,100, recently moved forward with development plans, a tell-tale sign the economy is on the upswing in Summit County, according to Community Development Director Don Sargent.
In August, the county issued 72 building permits, the most they have issued all year and more than issued in the previous three Augusts.
“We are beginning to see people develop parcels that were previously sitting empty,” said Sargent. “People are again beginning to enter the approval process and move forward with developments. We had a few developers that opted to put their projects on hold and take it out of the county’s development process that are once again moving forward on their plans.”
In 2007, the county issued 912 building permits all year, in 2009 only 592. This year, 398 have been issued since the end of September.
The total assessed valuation of the permits issued this year comes to $50 million, surpassing 2009’s valuation by three million dollars and is on track to overtake 2010s number as well.
John Beutler, director of the Business Resource Center in Park City, credits the recent increase in building numbers to new businesses coming to Summit County.
“People are starting to hire again and entrepreneurs are beginning to get traction,” Beutler said. “Our government, both city and county, are out trying to bring businesses here and promoting what Summit County has to offer.”
Beutler added that the recent influx of technology jobs in the area could have helped the building numbers as well.
“Low-impact industries like technology create jobs that pay enough for people to afford to live in Summit County instead of commuting from Salt Lake,” he said. “Even large businesses that relocate to Utah help Summit County’s building numbers because the executives want to live in Summit County with the lifestyle it provides.”
According to Sargent, county building inspectors performed more inspections last week than they did the entire month of October in 2010.
“It was a huge bump in inspections,” Sargent said. “Part of it can be credited to people trying to finish up some construction before the snow falls. Another reason for the increase is that a lot of projects that were waiting to begin construction have finally begun the process and are expecting a better economy come spring.”
The building department’s only problem with the sudden increase is a lack of staff.
“We cut three field inspector positions two years ago due to the decline in development,” Sargent said. “Now we are back to 2008 levels but have two less staff members. We are three days out on building inspections.”