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Building permits speak to a 'quiet boom'

The city is continuing to enjoy a "quiet boom" on the construction front. That's how Coun. Garth Frizzell put it when he commented Monday on the city's latest building permit report. As of halfway through this year, permits for $87.
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A backhoe loads fill into a dumptruck at the new Fire Hall #1 construction site in June. A building permit for $11.8 million worth of work on the project was taken out at city hall.

The city is continuing to enjoy a "quiet boom" on the construction front.

That's how Coun. Garth Frizzell put it when he commented Monday on the city's latest building permit report.

As of halfway through this year, permits for $87.1 million worth of construction have been taken out. The total is down from $99.6 million reached by the same point last year, which finished at a record-setting pace, but is still well up from $49.2 million as of halfway through 2017.

"It seems like each month is one in an ongoing series of discussions about the quiet boom that's taking place here in Prince George and it's quiet because we don't talk much about it," Frizzell said.

"But you can see that the numbers continue on year after year giving us better and better construction and better and better development in the city. It's not something that can last forever, but it sure has been a consistent rise over the last four to five years."

Frizzell emphasized the number of permits that have been issued. As of the end of June, that count stood 289, compared to 231 by midpoint 2018 and 235 by halfway into 2017.

"That's pretty significant, seeing the amount of construction going on in the city and it should be recognized," Frizzell said.

Looking solely at June, 71 permits for $31.3 million worth of work were taken out, compared to 50 permits for $44.7 million for June 2018 and 69 permits for $14.8 million for June 2017.

Highlights from last month included 17 permits for $9.4 million worth of new single-family homes and permits for a $5.5-million water treatment plant at the Canfor pulp mill and $11.8 million worth of work at the new fire hall.