Building Remains Steady in Lafayette County

By Alyssa Schnugg
News Editor
alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com

Lafayette County saw a slight rise in residential building permits with a small decrease in fees due to smaller, more “affordable” homes being built in subdivisions like this Briarwood home.
Photo from Realtor.com.

The number of building permits issued in 2018 in Lafayette County remained about the same compared to 2017 with a slight rise in residential projects.

County Building Official Joel Hollowell presented the 2018 figures before the Board of Supervisors Monday morning.

In 2017, the county issued 50 commercial permits, which includes businesses and rental units.

“Keep in mind those permits may include rental units,” he said. “There weren’t commercial buildings for retail being built.”

Hollowell said 50 commercial permits were also issued in 2018. Each year, about $34,000 was collected in fees for the commercial permits.

The number of residential permits rose slightly from 2017 to 2018 with 257 permits issued in 2017 and 264 permits issued in 2018. However, the permit fees dropped in 2018. The fees for 2017 came to about $176,000 while the fees in 2018 came in at $164,000.

Hollowell said that decrease in fees is due to smaller houses being built.

“There were a couple of subdivisions like Briarwood and Pebble Creek where they were building some smaller houses and more affordable type houses,” Hollowell said, “which is the direction I believe the county was hoping to get some of the building industry to move toward.”

So far in 2019, the county has issued 24 residential permits compared to 21 in the first six weeks of 2018. One commercial permit has been issued since Jan. 1.

“If anything can be said about these numbers, is that they are all over the place sometimes,” Hollowell said. “I don’t believe any kinds of market direction can be determined.”