By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
It doesn’t qualify as a building boom, but slowly and steadily, Wood County is seeing home construction inch its way ahead.
“We’re not setting the world on fire, but it’s getting better,” Wood County Chief Building Inspector Mike Rudey said about housing construction in the county this year.
Rudey reported to the county commissioners last month that the county saw single-family home construction reach 265 houses in 2018. That is a slight increase from 250 in 2017 and 240 the year before.
It’s been just over a decade since the burst of the nation’s housing bubble. During that time, the construction industry has been slowly building its way back.
The Wood County Building Inspection Office covers the largest geographic jurisdiction of all building departments in Ohio, covering Wood, Hancock, Henry and Fulton counties for all commercial construction, as well as Wood County, the city of Napoleon and the city of Wauseon for residential construction.
And the permit revenue is growing for the building inspection office. In 2017, the annual revenue was about $1.4 million. Then in 2018, it hit $1.5 million. And this year, the annual revenue surpassed $1.6 million – which had been the record amount set by the county building inspection office in 2005.
“November turned out to be a very good month,” Rudey told the commissioners, with $190,000 in permit revenue coming in, compared to $124,000 during that month in 2017.
“Everything looks good, on the positive side,” Rudey said.
As is customary for the county, the majority of the growth is being seen in the northern portion, especially in the Perrysburg area, Rudey said.
Bowling Green is continuing to hold steady.
On Wednesday evening, the city of Bowling Green Planning Commission approved Plat 1 of the Reserve at Martindale. The first plat consists of three residential lots along Pearl Street.
The small housing subdivision, proposed by David Maurer, is planned east of Peace Lutheran Church. The seven-lot subdivision will sit on the 3.5 acres between Pearl, Martindale and West Wooster streets. The backside of the development borders the homes on Western Avenue.
In early December, Bowling Green Planning Director Heather Sayler reported to the city planning commission that 367 requests for zoning permits had been received this year compared to 354 in 2017. New single-family home permits in the city numbered 31, compared to 34 the year before.
