The Planning Manager for the RM of Hanover says 2022 is shaping up to be an average year for construction in the municipality.

Jeremy Neufeld says 2021 saw an unprecedented level of construction. Hanover did not come close to those numbers in the first quarter of 2022, but Neufeld says it still looks to be a good year when you take a look at the five year average.

From January 1st to March 31st of this year, Hanover issued 59 total building permits, worth $9.1 million. Compare that to 116 permits for $17.1 million during the same period a year ago. Neufeld points out they did see a drop in February of this year, most likely due to the harsh winter conditions.

On the residential side of things, there were 24 new housing starts, worth $7.3 million during the first quarter of this year. Again, that is considerably down from the 33 permits for $8.4 million during the same stretch one year earlier.

Neufeld notes one of the trends this year is a change in which community is seeing the most residential construction. Neufeld says in 2020, Kleefeld was the hot spot. Then, in 2021 it shifted to Blumenort. So far in 2022, Kleefeld is again seeing the highest number of new housing starts. In the first quarter, there were 12 permits pulled for new houses in Kleefeld, compared to seven in Mitchell, two in New Bothwell, two in the rural area and one in Blumenort.

According to Neufeld, Grunthal continues to suffer from a lack of available lots, though he says they are actively working on a development with hopes of things changing in the near future. Neufeld says the wish is that each community in Hanover can see growth in 2022. He notes there are developments being worked on in each of Hanover's five communities and right now one of the determining factors will be how the weather will cooperate with getting some of the infrastructure in place.