By Mike Baker

While COVID-19 ensured that most people couldn’t wait to see the back of 2020, Dysart et al’s chief building official noted there were some positives to come out of the pandemic-ridden year.

Karl Korpela informed Dysart council last month that it had been a busy year for development in the local community.

In total, the municipality issued 508 building permits in 2020 with new investments coming in at just over $58 million.

“It was definitely a busy year considering the COVID-19 restrictions on [new] building we had for just over a month,” Korpela said. “We had a couple of record setting months for building permit issuances.”

There were 24 new primary dwellings and 55 new seasonal dwellings built in Dysart over the course of 2020. While not as high as previous years – there were 143 total new dwellings constructed in 2019 and 102 constructed in 2018 – Korpela indicated the major reason for that is there were no new multi-unit residential building applications in 2020.

In his analysis to council, Korpela pointed out an “interesting” pattern he’s seen emerge in recent years.

“Any time we don’t have a major development, like a multi-dwelling unit project, we typically have twice as many seasonal dwellings built as primary units,” Korpela said.

Dysart mayor Andrea Roberts was pleased to hear that people are continuing to invest money in the community.

“Overall, it looks like 2020 was a fantastic year [for development] considering it was a pandemic. People are still investing in our community, either wanting to renovate what they have, or build,” Roberts said. “I don’t have a crystal ball for COVID-19, but I would sure bet building permits for 2021 will be right up there again.”