Cambridge's building boom continued last year at a slightly faster pace than 2021, but with significantly higher construction values attached resulting in more than double the permit revenue for the city.
The total number of building permits issued between Jan. 1, 2022 and Dec 31, 2022 was 1,757.
That's compared to 1,737 in 2021, and the average of 1564 over the previous five years of 2017 to 2021, according to a report from the city's chief building official, Tanya Gies.
The value of construction permits issued in 2022 is close to $660 million, an increase of 21 per cent over the 2021 construction value of $519 million and an increase of 41 per cent over the previous five-year average of $388.8 million.
The number of new residential units permitted in 2022 is 980, much less than 2021's 1,179 but still significantly higher than the average over the previous five years of 749.
The city collected $6.4 million in permit revenue last year, an increase of 106 per cent over the five-year average of $3.1 million. Not included was $270,070 of waived permit fees for projects in the city's three core areas as part of the city's Core Area Community Improvement plan.
Gies writes that permit revenue collection can vary significantly over the course of each year and revenues for large projects can impact the numbers in different months and quarters.
The city's building division is self-funded and permit revenues fund operating costs. Any shortfall in revenue or excess cost is funded through the Building Permit Stabilization Reserve Fund which has a balance of just over $7 million as of Dec. 31.
Breaking down construction activity across the city in 2022, housing and minor permits were above average in every month except for April, October and December.
New single detached houses and townhouses comprised 64.6 per cent new residential units created in 2022 and 18.5 per cent of those new units were apartment units. The remaining 16.9 per cent were additional residential units added to existing residential properties.
Enacted in 2018 and revised in 2021 to relax the rules further, the zoning that allows ARUs has resulted an increase in permits within existing houses and in detached accessory structures. In 2022, 163 new additional residential units were permitted; 154 were single additional residential units added to an existing house; three were additional residential units in detached accessory structures; one single detached house was converted to a triplex; and one church was converted to a fourplex.
Industrial, Commercial and Institutional projects were also above the previous five year average in every month except April last year, and the same as the five year average in March.
Residential alteration permits continued to increase with 500 alteration permits issued in 2022 in comparison to the average of 257 permits issued over the same period in the previous five years.
