Large portions of the Aurora Sun greenhouse are not included in the city's 2019 building permit figures, which local administrators say skews the level of activity represented in the numbers.--NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT
Final building permit figures for 2019 should be considered on par with the previous two years, local planning officials say, arguing that a large drop in values doesn’t reflect the actual level of construction activity in the city.
Heading into the year, administrators predicted that continuing work on the Aurora Sun greenhouse, begun in 2018, would carry into 2019 as well.
Year-end figures released this week show the 2019 total at $90.6 million across all sectors, reflecting an eye-opening $51-million decrease from the year before.
Much of that difference however, is the result of Aurora receiving accreditation from the province last February to enforce safety code standards in its design and work.
That means the site’s permits don’t go through the City of Medicine Hat’s planning department, thereby leaving as much as $40 million of work out of the total, said city planning general manager Kent Snyder.
“It’s rather rare, but for big operations, it’s not that rare,” said Snyder of the provincial accreditation. “They give them to Statistics Canada separately, but we don’t consolidate them, and the numbers look low.
“It actuality, this year and last year are very close to the same value.”
In the bare analysis, the total value of all permits in 2019 was $91.4 million, compared to $141.4 million in the previous year, $113.8 million in 2017 and $125 million in 2016.
Evaluating the health of the construction sector in Medicine Hat has been tricky for six or more years since major projects – like the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital, Canalta Centre, or Medicine Hat Mall renovations – has estimated values that far outweigh smaller projects.
Snyder, who said while Aurora permits are not going through his office, the construction is still ongoing and benefitting the local sector.
That sector though, is also becoming more difficult to read, said Snyder, because of stubbornly low residential construction figures despite strong commercial and industrial investments by the private sector.
“We are positive in that what’s been driving things for the last several years is commercial and industrial construction, homes and people follows that sort of work,” he said.
Residential construction in the city dropped to a new low in 2019. Just 20 new detached homes were permitted in the year, down from 47 in 2018, which observers already considered low.
Duplex permits remained even, though the value dropped, as it did for townhouses.
New apartment or condo projects were saved with the late-year application to build a 40-unit complex, worth $6.1 million. In 2018, the class was headlined by a 200-unit complex worth more than $10 million to the total.
New garage permits were even, with other home renovation permits down about 10 per cent to $6.5 million.
New commercial and industrial buildings were much lower at a combined $11.1 million, compared to $55 million in 2018, when a boom of hotel and commercial plaza construction began.
That was partially made up in new institutional construction, highlighted by a new school in the community of Saamis.
Industrial alterations, bolstered by Cancarb Expansion. came in at $18.4 million. Commercial renos fell by 60 per cent to $10.7 million, with a similar drop in institutional upgrades, which fell to $4.5 million from $14 million in 2018.
