ADELAIDE METCALFE - Construction has not slowed down in Adelaide Metcalfe.

Chief building official Arnie Marsman gave council a detailed presentation on the big changes coming down from the Province that he and the building department hired out of Middlesex Centre are dealing with, and how Adelaide Metcalfe and its neighbours are doing when it comes to new builds.

In the first three months of this year, there have already been five new homes built in the Township. That compares to only one last year.

“Other municipalities have gone the other way,” said Marsman.

Total construction value in the first quarter of 2023 was $5.46 million built in Adelaide Metcalfe. Last year it was $3.8 million.

There was a total of 26 permits in the first quarter, up from 15. That includes everything going up including renovations and additions, pools, septic work, and commercial businesses. Agriculture building was down only by one to seven from eight.

“It’s really nice to see the single-family dwellings because that really helps our tax base,” said Mayor Sue Clarke.

Development charges bring in a lot of cash for municipalities to help fund the infrastructure for all those new neighbours.

Last year, Adelaide Metcalfe made $115,000 in charges. Cost of service was calculated to be $65,000. That was for construction valued at $17 million.

Building permit fees are meant to fully fund the building division. And that division is a lot more efficient after moving most services online, according to Marsman.

“Back in 2019, Middlesex Centre was the first municipality in North America to go with the cloud permit system . It’s an online cloud-based system, and it came in from Finland,” said Marsman.

The Finnish company won a request for proposals for software. They had over 250 municipalities in Finland.

“It’s probably saved us half of our administration time,” said Marsman, adding paper applications are still being accepted.

Coun. Garett Kingma asked if there would be more building bylaw enforcement.

“We’re not at that point right now. We want to make sure we can take care of our own house right now. We would have to hire another bylaw enforcement officer, I believe,” said Marsman.

Chris Gareau, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Middlesex Banner