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West Kelowna  

West Kelowna's booming

Business is picking up in West Kelowna.

The city experienced a record building boom in 2016.

According to figures released by the city, a record 649 single family building permits were issued, with a total construction value of $116.3 million.

The city says signs are pointing to an even bigger year in 2017.

Among the permits issued last year were 174 single family dwellings and 17 multi-family dwellings with a total of 90 units.

“We knew during the year that 2016 was going to far exceed any previous years by the number of applications and the quality of the projects we were seeing,” said Nancy Henderson, general manager of development services.

“To say we were extremely busy in 2016 is putting it mildly, and so far in 2017 we are not seeing any signs of a slowdown, in fact, I would say we may be looking at another record breaking year based on the interest we are seeing for larger scale multiple family projects, something we haven't seen a lot of since 2008.”

This year, the city is already administering a number of large-scale projects involving multi-family dwellings.

Increased construction in the community results in increased application fee and development cost charge  revenues. DCCs are fees paid by development to fund infrastructure improvements that are associated with growth.

Recently released B.C. population statistics indicate that West Kelowna’s population growth continues, with a 2.7 per cent increase over 2015.

West Kelowna leads the Central Okanagan in population growth and is estimated now to have a population of 34,930.

“We have been anticipating an upswing as we watched the B.C. economy improve and grow over the last few years and, judging from our growing population, we believe we will see continued development in not only residential development but also in the commercial and industrial sectors as well.

“The city has numerous rezoning and subdivision applications underway that will ensure a supply of a variety of housing types to support our community’s growth."



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