The number of building permits issued in Prince George this year is down below 2009 levels, according to information released by the city.
As of Aug. 31, the city issued 337 building permits valued at $54.8 million. Last year by the same time the city had issued 450 permits worth $112.6 million. By Aug. 31, 2009 the city had issued 358 permits valued at $40 million.
However, Northern B.C. Construction Association president Rosalind Thorn said the building permit number don't reflect all the construction going on in Prince George and the region.
"Our members, generally, are extremely busy," Thorn said. "We're extremely busy on the heavy industrial side."
In Prince George major projects like the BC Cancer Agency Centre For the North, Kordyban Cancer Lodge, Boundary Road construction, RCMP detachment, downtown district energy system, airport logistics park, Elizabeth Fry Place, wastewater processing facility at Husky Oil's Prince George refinery and $107-million upgrade of the Northwood Pulp Mill have kept local contractors and subtrades busy, she said.
"There is lots going on, it's so exciting," Thorn said.
The multi-billion-dollar upgrade to Rio Tinto Alcan's Kitimat aluminum smelter, Mount Milligan copper-gold mine near Fort St. John and Mackenzie, and oil and gas development in the Peace country have also provided work for local construction companies, she said.
"Some of these projects are not building permitable. The numbers are a snapshot of a couple sectors of the industry," Thorn said. "But it does not give a picture of the region as a whole."
In the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George, the number of building permits issued is at the lowest level in five years.
As of Aug. 31, the district had issued 236 building permits valued at $13.2 million.
From 2007 and 2010, the district issued 254 to 378 by Aug. 31 each year. The value of those permits was recorded as $14.2 million to $23.8 million.
Despite the low building permit number, commercial realtor and former Initiatives Prince George chairperson Clint Dahl said interest is strong both within and from outside the community.
"There is a lot of noise coming from people looking to come in," Dahl said.
