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Page 2 of 3 Total construction value of permits issued varies more significantly than the number of permits issued and is a better indicator of the overall workload for Building and Inspections. The following table shows the ten-year history for construction value of issued permits and total fees collected. 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Construction Value (in millions) 20.60 40.96 11.19 27.95 15.68 16.61 53.80 28.76 16.20 48.10 Total Fees 325,964 442,459 216,930 343,996 285,230 342,688 726,192 456,550 376,549 706,078 A construction value that is significantly higher than other years is likely to represent a large commercial project. For example, in 2012 permits were issued for the Presbyterian Homes Johanna Shores project. That project had a construction value of $23.8 million. Permits issued in 2012 for the Pulte Homes Fox Ridge Development had a construction value of $10.4 million. Together, those two projects alone comprised $34.2 million in value, or 63.6% of the year’s total construction value. In 2015, permits issued for the Presbyterian Homes brownstone project had a value of $9.0 million; permits issued for renovations at Boston Scientific had a value of $8.6 million; the Red Fox Business Center had a value of $5.4 million, and the Bethel University wellness center had a value of $4.8 million. Together these four projects had a value of $27.8 million, or 57.8% of the year’s total construction value. It is important to note that large, commercial projects are often constructed over multiple years. Permits are issued and fees are collected at the beginning of the project, but inspections contin ue for as many as three years. Therefore, the workload for Building and Inspections cannot be determined solely by the number of permits issued or total construction value in any given year, but must be evaluated in terms of construction trends and ongoing projects. Open Permits The City had 660 open permits at the end of 2015. Since then, the City has issued an additional 225 permits and closed 113 permits, so the current number of open permits is 772. Of the 772 open permits, 516 are less than one year old, 176 are one to two years old, 79 are two to three years old, and one is more than three years old. The permit that is greater than three years old is an active grading and erosion control permit. Generally, permits less than two years old are considered active, although it is not uncommon for permits to be active after two years. Recommendation Open permits are within the range established over the past eight years, but the number of open permits appears to be slowly increasing. Building and Inspections currently have a heavy workload as shown by the total construction value in 2015 and by the number of new permits already issued in 2016. Permits issued January 1 through March 10 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 169 156 120 171 225