City building numbers continue at slow pace

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The value of construction in Fort St. John last month was more than three times what it was in January, but the year-to-date total fell further off the 2015 pace.

Nine permits were issued in February, worth slightly more than $3.7 million; 70 per cent of the total for three southeast sector duplexes, each valued at $862,000.

However, while the February total easily surpassed January’s $1.1 million, it fell well short of the $5.8 million from 24 permits issued in February of last year.

It also left the year-to-date value of construction in the city at $4.9 million, and that’s only about one third of the $14.7 million after the first two months of 2015.

It’s a similar story when it comes to city revenue from the issued permits, which rose by $18,600 last month, putting the two month total at $24,600. That’s less than the stand alone totals for January or February of last year, which were $44,700, and $29,100, leaving the 2015 two month total at $73,800.

The fall-off in construction comes in the second year of oil and gas industry economic decline and there seems little doubt that related job loss is a key factor.

However, the cause and effect speculation is running beyond the oil and gas industry and some of it is being directed, arguably unfairly, at BC Hydro.

Although Hydro has never concealed its’ plan to provide work camp accommodation for its Site C dam work force, it’s widely believed that anticipation of attracting Site C worker tenants was one of the key reasons for speculative contractors moving ahead with aggressive Fort St. John rental property construction in recent years.

Now that Hydro has started the dam project, work camp reality has been established, and Fort St. John is looking at a double digit vacancy rate, believed to have effectively dampened the attractiveness, of rental property construction.