Park City’s blistering construction industry ended 2007 having posted almost a quarter of a billion dollars worth of permit-authorized work, by far the biggest year in the city’s history and, insiders say, an indication that the local real estate market is not susceptible to the national housing downturn.

The city’s Building Department authorized $239.7 million in work last year, a 38 percent increase from the figure recorded in 2006. That year, when the industry tallied $173.3 million, was a record to that point.

The two consecutive record-setting years come as Park City enjoys a buzzing post-Winter Olympic economy, with the housing market remaining strong and the construction industry keeping pace.

The 2007 number more than doubles the $115.5 million tallied in 2005.

“We didn’t slow down up here in Park City. That’s for sure,” says Geri Strand, the executive officer of the Park City Area Home Builders Association, an industry group that monitors construction activity.

Builders beat the 2006 standard in September and spent the final quarter of the year adding onto the new record. For much of 2007, Building Department officials expected the record to fall, but they were hesitant to project a final figure. That depended on whether they issued big-dollar permits before the end of the year, and they processed some of those before New Year’s.

Ron Ivie, the veteran chief building official, whose department compiles the numbers, says the margin between the previous record and that of 2007 surprises him.

Big projects like the Montage in Empire Pass, the Intermountain Healthcare hospital at Quinn’s Junction and Silver Star on the slopes of Park City Mountain Resort boosted the numbers, Ivie says, but he says houses throughout the city pushed the numbers higher as well.

“I can’t think hardly of a street in Old Town that (doesn’t) have one or more building projects on it,” Ivie says.

Some of the figures include:

( The department issued 1,074 building permits, down slightly from 2006.

( City Hall collected about $6 million in fees, up from the previous year.

( The number of permits for houses dropped about 50 percent from 2006 and fell from 2005 also. The value of the house permits also dropped from the year before.

( Permits for multi-family units like condominiums or townhouses pushed up heavily, with 164 allowed in 2007 compared to 99 the year before. Multi-family projects, worth about $43.5 million, topped the other categories in value.

( Commercial construction accounted for about $20.5 million, up slightly from the previous year.

Real estate agents have long said Park City is a desirable place for people to buy a vacation home or to move to on a full-time basis as they explain the city’s humming market. They say the city is a top mountain resort and, unlike other skiing cities, it sits close to a metropolitan area and an international airport, giving Park City an edge over more remote places.

The real estate industry also touts buying in Park City as being a good deal compared to pricier mountain resorts like Aspen, Colo., Jackson, Wyo., and Sun Valley, Idaho, all competitors to Park City.

“We’re still a bargain when you look at the comparative markets,” Ivie says.

Inside the Building Department, Ivie says the seven inspectors were busy in 2007, and they kept pace with the work. The department tries to visit worksites within 24 hours of a request, and Ivie says the inspectors met that goal in almost every case.

“The guys are working extra time,” Ivie says, adding, “It’s been stressed lately — the workload.”

Complaints increase

The Park City Building Department received an average of two complaints each day of the year in 2007 — weekdays, weekends and holidays — according to Chief Building Official Ron Ivie.

He says the 730 complaints from the public recorded in 2007 were an increase from 2006, but the numbers from the previous year were not immediately available.

“Yeah, it’s a lot, but I don’t think it’s out of whack,” Ivie says, noting that construction in 2007 was up significantly from the year before.

He says 569 of the complaints did not result in a citation, 139 people were cited after the department received a complaint and 22 cases are pending.

At least 75 percent of the complaints targeted construction projects, with the rest being about signs and snowplowing, among other issues. The complaints included those about parking problems near construction projects, trespassing, noise and crews working outside of construction zones.

Ivie says neighbors frequently complained about nearby projects, and they were especially prevalent in Old Town. In that tightly packed neighborhood, construction crews frequently work within feet of neighboring houses.

Jay Hamburger