Thorunn Howatt
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 13/02) - It's looking like this could be a record year for construction dollars spent in Yellowknife.

City staff anticipate a banner 2001 due to apartment construction and residential development inquiries.

"It's going to be busier than it's been for a few years," said Yellowknife city planner Dave Jones.

Last Thursday a 104-unit, 14-storey apartment building was approved on 52 Avenue, but development action started in January with city approval of a 36-unit apartment building in the Range Lake area. The latest approvals were for an eight-unit townhouse on 43 Street and a four-unit apartment on 45 Street.

Lots were also sold at Niven Lake, so it's likely applications will be filed for building on those properties.

"We don't get a real rush until about late April and into May," said the City of Yellowknife's Glenn Peterson. "The first stuff that comes in is the 'Honey Do' list," where spouses agree to build a deck or an addition.

Then the bigger projects start looking for approvals from planning and lands, particularly if there is rezoning involved.

February's $10.5 million in construction made it a banner month compared to February 2001's $1.8 million. The new jail, ringing in at $9.5 million, accounted for most of the total. The amounts are based on building permit applications to the city. So far the new arenas project permits have not gone through. That could add up to nearly $10 million. And permitting for the jail could total $25 million.

The last time Yellowknife saw this type of action was in 1988 when high-rise buildings were put up downtown.

The actual revenue for Yellowknife this year, including building permit fees taken in so far this year, is about $59,000, Last year was only $12,000.

The city charges three different rates for building permits based on the type of structure: residential, garages and accessory buildings as well as a commercial rate. There is also a special mechanical permit.

Despite the revenue windfall for Yellowknife, the actual number of permits is down from last year.

There were 50 building permits issued last year by this time, but this year the number has dropped to 40. The comparison of number of building permits between years though is actually very close -- the difference is in 11 mechanical permits so far in 2002 compared to 21 in 2001. That could mean that someone just replaced a leaky toilet.