Building holds steady in 2017 in Noble County; new houses limited by land availability

Permits were down slightly compared to 2016, when 879 projects were approved by building officials. The 2016 total investment was around $73.8 million, but $31 million of that was the new East Noble Middle School. Taking that new school building out of the equation — property taxes won’t be assessed on the building because it’s a government-owned facility — the remaining 2016 investment was approximately $42.8 million.

Neither of those annual construction cost totals include projects in Ligonier, which doesn’t track a total value for all permitted projects, building inspector Earle Franklin said.

Building permits can include any kind of construction that requires a permit from the county, city or town. That can include small projects such as sheds or residential fences, midsize-works like major home remodeling or additions or new home construction or large projects such as housing complexes or new commercial or industrial facilities.

Allen County officials celebrated topping $1 billion in new construction in 2017, up from $790 million the year prior, but that kind of construction boom didn’t appear in Noble County.

Some local governments saw small increases in building, while others had small decreases. Noble County, which covers unincorporated areas as well as does permitting for Cromwell, saw in increase of about $2.7 million, while Kendallville saw a decrease of about $2.8 million even after taking the new middle school out of the mix.

Avilla had a good year, with $5 million in building, an increase of about $1.4 million from 2016. Albion’s total was up by about a half million dollars, while Rome City’s total dropped about $300,000.

Kendallville’s overall building numbers declined slightly, but new construction on the U.S. 6 corridor picked up in 2017, Mayor Suzanne Handshoe noted as a positive. Casey’s General Store opened a new station at the southeast corner of the intersection with S.R. 3, and a new gas station and truck stop is under construction on the southwest corner. 3Rivers Federal Credit Union also began construction of a new branch.

Countywide, home building has been steady at about 100 new houses per year, but residential growth continues to be hamstrung in several locales due to a lack of available land to build on.

Ligonier Mayor Patty Fisel said her city has worked to addressed that problem by annexing more ground into the city in hopes of spurring new development.

“The problem with us building has been that we have no acreage to build on for housing. We have just absolutely depleted all the areas within the corporate city limits for housing,” Fisel said.

Ligonier annexed 120 acres on the south side and Fisel said there’s also some pressure for the owner of some ground on Union Street that had previously been zoned for residential housing, but was changed back to farm ground, to consider opening it back up to building.

The new Riverside Villa apartment complex, which was permitted in 2016 but has been under construction all of 2017, is one major ongoing project in Ligonier and although recreational vehicle manufacturer Forest River occupied an existing building, the firm is already planning to expand its campus in the city.

Housing availability continues to be a limiting factor for the county and could also be a detriment to commercial and industrial growth. The county has had near-zero population growth for years and businesses have been seeking new housing so that employees can live nearer to their jobs.

Handshoe said Noble County industries have about 600 jobs that are currently vacant.

If businesses can’t find employees for the jobs they currently have, it could lead to decisions about whether firms want to continue to expand operations or to invest in other areas with a more available workforce.

The Noble County Economic Development Corp. is in the midst of a housing study to figure out what types of homes are needed and where in an effort to address the problem, but data is still being compiled and the report is not expected until later this year.

“We are all acknowledging we have a housing shortage and working to solve that together,” Handshoe said.