Construction, development continue unabated despite pandemic
WATERLOO REGION — The COVID-19 pandemic, and the lockdown that it provoked, hasn’t done much to dampen development in the region.
Kitchener has seen more applications for building permits during the first five months of this year than it did in the same period last year, and the construction value for those projects is also up.
Cambridge saw a slowdown in permits in that period, but is now facing a backlog of planning applications as developers are keen to move forward with projects.
And Waterloo continues to see lots of developers coming in with proposals for multimillion-dollar projects.
“We’re encouraged by the activity that we’re seeing,” said Brian Bennett, Kitchener’s manager of business development.
The ongoing activity, particularly in large projects, “tells me that it’s steady and strong still,” said Cameron Rapp, Waterloo’s commissioner of planning and public works. Developers are proposing “multimil
lion-dollar structures that take significant financing. These developers are having to justify to (lenders) that there’s a market for them.
“That tells me we’re quite strong economically, out there to the world. There’s money showing up still.”
Kitchener issued permits with a construction value of $249 million between January and May, up slightly from $244 million for the same period last year.
In Cambridge, building permits were down about 37 per cent for the first five months of 2020, but planning applications are comparable to last year, said Hardy Bromberg, Cambridge’s deputy city manager of community development. Waterloo also saw a brief dip in building permits, but developers are keeping the city’s planning department busy.
“From the planning side of things, we didn’t really see a slowdown,” Bromberg said. “We expect we’ll be right where we had expected to be without any kind of pandemic.”
The ban on public gatherings after mid-March led to a backlog of planning approvals headed to city council this summer, as well as a backlog of proposals that require public meetings. The city plans to hold virtual public meetings over the next few months.
Several big projects are in the works, Bromberg said: a 30-storey project on Kerr Street next to the planned LRT in Galt; the Gaslight Condos, a multi-tower project on the Grand River in Galt; the large Lakeview subdivision in south Galt that is now starting grading; and the start of the North Cambridge Business Park near the Toyota plant and the airport.
Residential construction is responsible for much of the activity in Kitchener: this year saw permits for single-family homes for $79 million worth of construction, compared to $45 million in 2019.
Kitchener is also seeing plenty of pre-submissions, where developers present proposals for preliminary city feedback. “That hasn’t slowed down,” Bennett said.
In Waterloo, where most residential developments are for big condo and apartment projects, Rapp said, most pre-submissions lead to development applications, since even to get to the pre-submission phase means developers are paying consultants and investing in designs.
The pandemic may have had one major impact, Bromberg said: he’s seeing a lot more permit requests for smaller projects — people putting in decks or additions.
“I’m not sure if it’s a function of more people staying home and looking at renovations for a home office, or spending more time at home so they build that deck they’ve been thinking about,” Bromberg said.