About $17 million in building permits issued so far in 2012

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Construction crews in Jamestown could have a busy summer this year. A total of about $17 million in permits for residential and commercial projects has already been issued, according to Gary Klundt, Jamestown building inspector.

That compares to about $4.2 million permitted during 2011.

“It is a little busier than last year and it is still early,” Klundt said. “Some projects could still get started.”

Commercial building construction showed the biggest increase. In 2011, 28 permits were issued for $1.4 million in projects. From January through April 2012, 12 projects have received building permits with a total value of $16.1 million.

“There are some bigger projects including the Orlady Hall project at Jamestown College, Medical Office Building at the hospital, Coborn’s and Lutheran Social Services at the old hospital,” Klundt said.

Residential building permits are about on pace with last year. Building permits are required for home additions, decks and garages as well as for the construction of new homes.

“We’ve issued 23 building permits this year and three are for houses,” Klundt said.

In 2011, 74 residential permits were issued totaling $2.8 million. For the first four months of 2012, 23 permits were issued with a value of about $800,000.

Along with private construction the city has about $1.6 million in street and sidewalk work planned this summer.

“The normal paving district project this year is in central and southwest Jamestown,” said Reed Schwartzkopf, city engineer. “This is patching, crack sealing and seal coat.”

A $1.5 million contract for the street work was awarded to Border States Paving in April.

The city of Jamestown is divided into seven districts. Street work is done in one district each year on a rotational basis with each district seeing work every seven years.

Schwartzkopf said this system may need to be modified in the future.

“For most of the pavement in town the life expectancy has expired,” he said. “The magnitude of the repairs has steadily gone up. Road reconstruction may be necessary in the future. This is something being evaluated.”

The $120,000 contract for the curb, gutter and sidewalk work in central and southwestern Jamestown was awarded in April to Lindberg Brothers Inc.

“We could see change orders to the contract as people request work,” Schwartzkopf said. “That would increase the contract.”

Several other government projects are in the design stage now and could see construction later this year. That includes an additional water tower in south Jamestown and a new sewage lift station in the central part of the city.

“We’re looking at a medium type of impact for this construction season,” Schwartzkopf said. “Not a lot of big impacts for people in the city.”

Sun reporter Keith Norman can be reached at 701-952-8452 or by email at knorman@jamestownsun.com

Tags: local news, news, construction