Home building permits increase

Lake County saw its new single-family home building permit numbers increase in 2017.

In total, 378 permits were issued, up from 345 in 2016.

As has been the case for the past several years, Mentor and Concord Township had the most permits issued, with 127 and 66 respectively.

In both cases, those figures are similar to what the communities saw the previous year. Mentor had 129 permits issued in 2016 and Concord had 67.

One of the communities that saw the biggest jump was Painesville Township, going from eight permits in 2016 to 36 last year.

Painesville Township’s jump has been a few years in the making, with two subdivisions

beginning to sell homes in 2017. Those were Kallay Farms and the Villas at Lake Erie Shores.

“The township is very excited about the projects,” Painesville Township Administrator Mike Manary said.

He said the trustees had been working with the developers for more than two years before ground was broken on the projects.

Manary expects the township’s new building start numbers to double in 2018 and continue to grow in 2019. Two more subdivisions are in the works. Ground has broken on the site of the former Fairway Pines golf course and home sales are expected to begin this year. The first phase of the project plans for 167 new homes to be built over the course of five years and 100 to be built in the second.

The other subdivision in the works, Asbury Pointe, will add 26 homes. Manary said he’s unsure if that project will break ground this year. They’re working through the approval process with the county, he said. Asbury Pointe will also have homes in Concord Township according to Knez Homes’ website.

Painesville Township saw the biggest year-overyear gain (+28), followed by Painesville City, where 21 more were issued (43) than in 2016 (22). Painesville City also issued the third-most permits overall. Painesville Township was fourth, followed by Madison Village (27) and Willoughby (16).