Fort Erie smashes last year’s building permit totals
Published August 30, 2021 at 4:43 pm
Fort Erie shattered last year’s cash count for second quarter (April-June) new house building and home renovation permits.
In 2020, the town issued 53 residential permits with a total value of $20,584,400. In 2021, they went 50 per cent better with 79 permits that totaled $35,724,200.
Residential permits issued were highest in the Garrison neighbourhood (24 per cent) and Douglastown neighbourhood (23 per cent) areas in Fort Erie, which combined for 47 per cent of all new residential permits in the second quarter.
“Stay-at-home orders caused people to spend more time in their homes than ever before. Many homeowners took advantage of this opportunity by starting home renovation projects,” says Keegan Gennings, the town’s Chief Building Official.
“Overall, we saw an increase in residential additions, alterations and repairs for Fort Erie homeowners with 55 permits issued in the second quarter. Swimming pools were also quite popular (April to June) with an additional 31 permits issued.”
However, this bustle of building activity saw the town’s bylaw staff kept on their toes, as well, as more complaints than ever were called in.
In the second quarter, there 768 calls for by-law enforcement, 71 of which were directed toward short-term rentals. This was an increase from January to March which only saw 356 calls.
The number and types of new calls for services in the second quarter increased in 2021 vs 2020, showing new calls for waste and debris jumping from 51 to 143, zoning related issues increasing to 43 from 13, noise complaints hitting 33 vs 16 and parking calls coming in at 47 from zero last year.