Grant County building permits rise in 2016

EPHRATA — 2016 was a good year to build in Grant County.

The county’s building department approved 687 building permits in 2016 on new construction, additions, and accessories valued $66.1 million.

Four hundred and ten of those permits were for new homes, manufactured homes, additions to homes, or “accessories” — garages, shops, gazebos, patio covers, decks and the like, according to Grant County Building Department Director and Fire Marshal David Nelson.

“March is our busiest month, when the weather breaks,” Nelson said. “We try to have all residential permits approved in three weeks.”

Nelson said his office approves building permits only on unincorporated county land, though his office does handle building permits for the town of Wilson’s Creek — one home which was not included in the county figures, Nelson said.

The most expensive home county officials approved was valued at slightly over $601,000, a residence permitted to Boe and Shannon Clausen.

However, that value pales in comparison to the four most expensive buildings approved by the county in 2016 — all of which were potato storage facilities valued well in excess of $1.7 million, with the most expensive a $2.7 million facility permitted to Larry and Julie Schaapman.

“This year was a pretty good year for potato storage,” Nelson said. “Normally we only have one.”

By comparison, AeroTEC’s proposal to change factory space to office space and add a second floor to its airport facility were only valued at $1.1 million.

The 687 permits for 2016 is an increase in 50 from the number of building permits the county issued in 2015. Building permits has risen steadily since 2012, when Grant County issued 564.

However, the total value of those permits has varied considerably. Those 564 permits in 2012 were for property valued at $65.1 million — not much different than the total approved for 2016. While the county approved 50 more building permits than it did in 2014, the total value approved for that year was around $72.1 million.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.