The number of building permits has gone up in 2013, compared to the previous three years, according to numbers compiled by the Wells County Area Plan Commission office.
Michael Lautzenheiser Jr., the APC’s executive director, said the number this year — as of mid-December — was 317, compared to 307 in 2012, 287 in 2011, and 256 in 2010.
“The numbers are definitely getting back up,” Lautzenheiser said in a recent interview in his office. “It’s not anywhere near the numbers we had in the mid-1990s, but it’s getting back there.”
The permits filed in 2013 included 37 for homes — 17 urban (inside city or town limits) and 20 rural (outside municipal boundaries). The other 280 are for renovations of one type or another.
The number of those “other” permits — for renovations, for example — nearly matches the 282 taken out in 2011, and shows evidence that even the people who are not building new homes are taking time to fix up what they have.
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