|
Local building permits top national, regional averages
By Justin Goble
Though the number of building permits issued in Jackson County has dropped in the past few months, local figures are above both national and regional averages.
That news came from Planning Director Linda Cable March 17, who updated commissioners on the current state of construction in the county.
Cable said 1,632 building permits were issued in 2007, which is slightly lower than the 1,695 issued in 2006. However, she pointed out that the drop is mainly due to the floundering housing market that has affected much of the country – not the steep-slope and subdivision ordinances that were passed last year.
Citing information from the U.S. Census Bureau, Cable said the number of housing permits authorized throughout the country was down 33 percent in December 2007 from the year before. While Jackson County is seeing a decline in the number of permits issued, she said it isn’t nearly that severe.
In the Cashiers area, 606 permits had been issued at the end of 2006. Of those, 227 were new single-family homes and 10 were for commercial buildings. In 2007, the number of permits issued dropped less than 1 percent, totaling 602.
Permits issued in the rest of the county are showing the same trend, Cable said. The total for 2006 was 1,089 permits, with 300 new single-family homes and 28 commercial. Totals for 2007 dropped to 1030, with 243 single-family homes and 37 commercial units.
“We’re doing pretty well despite the economy,” she said.
That trend is holding true for Jackson County relative to the rest of Western North Carolina as well, Cable said. Citing totals for the first two months of 2008, she said the county is faring well compared to Buncombe and Macon.
For January and February, Buncombe County issued 64 and 48 building permits, respectively. Macon issued 10 in the month of January, with no figures available for February.
Jackson County officials issued 16 permits in January and 28 in February. While those numbers may not seem that impressive, Cable said Jackson is doing as well, if not better, than surrounding counties.
“In February, Buncombe County issued 48 building permits,” she said. “We issued 28 that month, and they’re much bigger than we are.”
Despite those numbers, real estate agents and home builders are saying their workload has dropped significantly. Realtor Marty Jones, who was one of the most vocal opponents of the new ordinances, said his business has taken a major hit.
“In south Jackson County, our vacant land sales are down 70 percent from what they were last year,” Jones said. “Existing home sales are off at least 50 percent.”
Jackson County Homebuilders Association President Brandy Sullivan agreed, saying the numbers don’t reflect the major slowdown in construction of residential housing.
“By my understanding, counts are way low,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of estimates lately, and I think things are starting to turn. The interest rates are low and the weather is getting nicer, so I think things will get a little better. But the numbers are nowhere near what they were last year. I know a lot of builders that are about to starve to death. They’re looking for anything to do just to make it. There’s people out there who build million-dollar homes who are taking on deck additions and things like that just to get by.”
As a way for developers with a significant investment in their tracts to avoid work stoppage during last year’s moratorium and passage of the ordinances, the planning department took vested rights applications from builders. Developers who could prove they had vested rights to proceed with plans for their property were not affected by the moratorium and did not have to comply with most provisions of the steep-slope and subdivision ordinances.
Cable reported 239 developments were given vested rights. All of the developers who applied for vested rights were approved, she said.
“There’s an application form that asks for certain pieces of information,” she said. “I reviewed all of the applications in-house. A lot of times, I had to ask them to bring in more information. But I was satisfied with all of the applications.”
A vested rights appeals board was appointed by commissioners last year, and Cable said that board would have been called on if there had been difficulty determining if a developer had vested rights.
“They would have helped with the process if there was a case where it was really hard to determine,” she said. “But we didn’t have any of those.”
|
