Park City’s construction industry through the first two months of 2010 posted just less than $1.3 million of work, a figure that is well off the pace of the previous year.
It has been rare in the past decade that a two-month tally is as low as the approximately $1.3 million that was posted between January and February. Although January and February are typically slow months in Park City’s construction industry, the 2010 total thus far could be worrisome to City Hall and the industry. Through the same period last year, the total was $30.6 million.
Park City officials have expected construction could struggle through another down year in 2010, but a two-month total as low as what was recorded in January and February is an exceptionally poor showing.
According to the Building Department, no permits were issued in February for new structures. The permits issued in February were valued at a combined $604,312, with alterations or additions to residential properties accounting for most of the total.
The total was down slightly from January. The February figure, though, fell dramatically from the same month the year before.
In February 2009, the Building Department issued just less than $27 million worth of work. A high-dollar permit was issued that month for work at the Montage in Empire Pass. The Montage permit buoyed the end-of-year numbers in 2009.
In February, meanwhile, the number of electrical, plumbing and mechanical permits was mixed when compared to January and generally up from the numbers in February 2009.
The Building Department’s inspection load in February — 416 per day — outpaced the figures in January and the previous February.
Construction-related revenues have long boosted City Hall’s budget, but officials have indicated they would not be able to rely on them as they once did.
Ron Ivie, the longtime chief building official at City Hall, has said the 2010 totals could sink further from 2009 if lending practices remain tight. If lending loosens this year, he has said, there are developers in Park City prepared to start construction.
The Park City construction industry, accustomed to the record-setting years of the past decade, has suffered terribly during the recession. The 2009 total — $68.5 million — was the lowest year-end figure since 2003.