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Construction crews start year slowly

by Jay Hamburger OF THE RECORD STAFF

Construction crews working inside Park City started 2010 slowly, posting $680,256.37 in work during the month, the Building Department reported.

The figure was well off the pace from the same month last year. In the first month of 2009, the industry received permits for more than $3.6 million.

According to the Building Department, 42 permits were issued in January, about the same as in December and up from the 29 issued in January 2009. The department said it issued one permit for a single-family house in January, accounting for most of the overall dollar figure in the month.

Meanwhile, 29 permits were issued for alterations or additions, with the permits split nearly evenly between residential properties and commercial buildings. The 29 permits were valued at $240,929, the Building Department said. Other permits that added to the overall value included nine given to people putting up signs.

The department in January did not issue permits for duplexes, multi-family projects or commercial buildings.

The number of electrical, plumbing and mechanical permits was mixed from the totals in December and the previous January.

The Building Department conducted an average of 376 inspections each day, up significantly from the inspection load in December and in the previous January. Ron Ivie, City Hall’s chief building official, said the inspections required before business licenses are renewed accounted for much of the increase. The inspectors looked at places in the nightly rental pool, Ivie said.

The slow start came as the Building Department released its year-end totals from 2009, the lowest since 2003. The construction industry in 2009 posted $68.5 million, less than half of the total in 2008, and one project, the Montage in Empire Pass, buoyed the numbers.

Officials have said the recession has cut deeply into the local construction industry as it has elsewhere as well. In an interview early in 2010, Ivie, said there is a chance this year’s total will fall even further.

He said the 2010 figures will depend on the lending practices of banks. Even so, Ivie said, Park City’s construction industry had weathered the recession better than other places.

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