The unprecedented building boom in Coquitlam is expected to ease over the next year or two.
But the general manager of planning and development says revenues to the city will still be high and projections will be met to pay for budgeted capital projects.
Last week, the city released its first trimester report showing building permit values down 7% - or $9 million - compared to the same period last year (between Jan. 1 and April 30, there were 849 development and building bids issued).
This differs from the rest of Metro Vancouver, which saw building trends on par with 2012 levels.
Coquitlam city staff attribute the drop in the first quarter to a slower housing market, political uncertainty with the provincial election and seasonal market fluctuations.
Still, as deputy city manager John DuMont wrote in his report to city council last Monday, a number of "significant projects" are now in the building permit bid stage and will likely be okayed later this year. They include:
1188 Pinetree Way (M3): $51 million
1123 Westwood St. (Onni): $43 million
3007 Glen Dr. (Evergreen Tower): $43 million
Centennial secondary school: $31 million
3461 Princeton Ave.: $16 million
and 1033 Austin Ave. (Safeway): $11 million
Planning GM Jim McIntyre said most of the construction is happening in the southwest (Burquitlam and Maillardville) and northeast (Burke Mountain) areas.
In the first quarter of this year, 367 building permits were approved for the southwest while 321 were green-lighted for Burke neighbourhoods: 213 for Smiling Creek, 82 for Lower Hyde Creek and 22 for Upper Hyde Creek.
McIntyre said city planners are very busy keeping pace with growth. This year, they hope to conclude the Maillardville Neighbourhood Plan, start the Burquitlam-Lougheed Neighbourhood Plan and the Hazel Drive-Harper Road visioning process. As well, the next phase for the City Centre Area Plan will get underway not to mention planning for the Evergreen Line, which is expected to be running to City Centre by the summer of 2016 - in time for the city's 125th anniversary year.
"The first four months was off a bit but, since then, construction activity has picked up and we expect the overall budget revenues to be what we projected," McIntyre said.
