North Bay sees record building year

NORTH BAY -

With still more than a month to go in 2021, construction values in North Bay are already more than $105 million.  

 

“It’s the culture and success that we’re having in creating the jobs and creating the growth, but more importantly the confidence that people have to invest their  money here in our community,” said North Bay Mayor Al McDonald. 

 

“It’s not the city investing, other than the infrastructure. These are individuals that are putting out their money to build houses, to build businesses, to build industrial buildings.”

 

The city said plenty of that growth is coming from new residential homes being built, with more than 230 types of living arrangements completed far this year. 

 

“Construction has been frantic, we haven’t seen these levels of construction in decades,” said Rick Miller who sits on the board at the North Bay Home Builders Association. 

 

“Right now, there is mostly single family homes or town homes, a few semi detached dwellings and there are some condominium projects that are in the planning stages that will be going next year,” he added. 

 

McDonald also said this reduces pressures around taxes. 

 

“When you have 87 more homes paying taxes it definitely makes a difference. I’m not going to say it’s going to reduce taxes because our costs are always going up, but when you have more growth that absolutely helps when you do your budgets,” he said. 

 

McDonald told CTV News council and staff’s plan is to exceed the $105 million next year.