Busy first quarter for builders in Minto

MINTO – A busy April helped push building activity to a 10-year high for the first quarter of 2019.

Building assistant Michelle Brown reported that 31 permits were issued last month for construction valued at $5.6 million (versus 18 permits for about $2.3 million worth of construction in April 2018).

Those numbers helped make up for a slower March, when the town issued only 18 permits for construction worth $2.9 million, compared to 19 permits worth $5.6 million in 2018.

Year-to-date figures show the town issued 66 permits to the end of April, resulting in $15.8 million in building activity, compared to 45 permits in 2018 for construction worth $9 million.

During March and April, the report notes, permits for 18 new residential units were issued, including 12 single-family dwellings and three semi-detached buildings. In addition, Brown reported the town issued five commercial renovations “that are helping rejuvenate the Palmerston and Harriston downtown cores” and the first occupancy permits were issued for a new multi-unit complex in the Quality Homes development at the former Harriston Senior School site.

The year-to-date construction value figure of $15.8 million is above the next closest first-quarter figure from 2017, when permits were issued for just over $12 million worth of construction,  and well ahead of the 10-year average of about $9 million.