CARSTAIRS-CREMONA-DIDSBURY – Construction in both Carstairs and Didsbury remained steady in 2017, while Cremona dropped slightly.
The Town of Carstairs saw the number of permits down from 2016 to 2017 although total construction value was up.
There was a total of 144 permits handed out in 2017 compared to 154 in 2016.
Of those 144, 54 were for single-family homes versus 68 in 2017, 14 were for multi-family homes and six were for commercial/industrial compared to six multi-family and eight commercial/industrial for 2016.
The others were made up of renovations, decks, garages, etc. The total construction value was $19,107,890.
"We had 68 new home starts," said CAO Carl McDonnell. "We projected 50, so it was above our projection. In 2018 we're projecting 50 to 55 again."
In Cremona there were 10 permits in total with two being related to residential. CAO Luana Smith said there were no new builds.
"We need to get some development and some businesses," said Smith. "Council is working on that. Council is doing their own subdivision right now of some lands on our main road. We'll be listing those for sale once we go through subdivision. We would have to do a public hearing."
Didsbury continues to see solid growth in both business licences and construction permits.
"The Town of Didsbury had a very busy year as far as development was concerned with record number of businesses pulling licences to work in the municipality and a large number of applications for subdivision and land use redesignation," said Christofer Atchison, manager of legislative and development services.
"With a number of large projects moving forward and nearing completion, I expect a busy 2018 for the town."
In 2017 there were 88 development permits issued compared to 115 in 2016. There were 10 new home builds in 2017 compared to 25 in 2016. The number of business licences issued rose from 328 in 2016 to 390 in 2017. The number of subdivision applications went from three in 2016 to five in 2017, while the number of land use redesignation applications dropped from six in 2016 to four in 2017.
