Winter 2020-21 Hometown Messenger

PERMITS BY THE NUMBERS

New single-family homes are under construction in the Windermere

2019 2020

Year-to-date Oct. 31

neighborhood in west Shakopee this fall. The city's new residential construction and an increase in home remodeling projects are spurring a

Basement Finish

69

79

Commercial/ Industrial

78

63

Deck

101 196

Fences

96 149

potential record in city permits to be issued in 2020.

Pools

8

16 74

Re-siding Reroofing

49

193 336 105 141

New single-family

Solar

15

37

Other Building

324 358 827 1,079 131 103 797 826 806 865 131 166

Electrical

Continued from Page 1

Fire

SEEKING BUILDING INSPECTORS While building inspections is a critical service, many cities struggle to find qualified building inspectors and officials. Buska said many current inspectors are reaching retirement age; however, training programs for prospective new inspectors are difficult to find. To become a certified Minnesota building official, a person must pass a written exam. The state has two levels of certification – a building official master-level license and building official-limited license. An individual must acquire qualifying points through education and experience working in a construction field to sit for the exams. This fall, the City of Shakopee was one of seven Minnesota cities to receive a two-year state grant to help introduce more people to the inspections field. The funding will allow the city to hire a full-time apprentice who will gain on-the-job experience in preparation to take the state exams. “What makes Shakopee unique is our variety – an amusement park, hospital, prison, schools, multifamily, industrial, a giant Amazon warehouse,” Buska said. “Someone training here gets a taste of everything.”

In addition to Buska and Davis, Shakopee also has a full-time, master electrician on staff, which, while unique among metro cities, allows the inspector to conduct more in-depth electrical inspections. Two permit coordinators manage all the city’s permits and paperless,

Mechanical

Plumbing

Sewer &Water

Sign

90

73

SAC

3 3

3 4

Zoning TOTAL

3,826 4,568

online plan system, which streamlines the department’s work. “During COVID, our permits never shut off because every step of the process can be done online,” Buska said. BREAKING PERMIT RECORDS Since Jan. 1, the city’s building inspections division has issued 4,568 permits – well up from 3,826 the first 10 months of 2019. While new housing construction is driving some of the boon, Shakopee also has seen an increase in smaller residential remodeling projects. “People are at home, doing their basement finishes and adding that deck they’ve long wanted,”Davis said. The increase in residential permits, combined with ongoing commercial development, means a lot of daily inspection visits. Each new single-family home has an average of 20 separate inspections for building, electrical, fire, mechanical and plumbing work. Those numbers compound for multi-family and commercial buildings. For example, city inspectors have conducted nearly 925 separate inspections at Triple Crown Apartments since construction started in 2018. They recorded 560 visits to Benedictine Health Systems’senior living complex. Many commercial projects take years to fully wrap up. Building inspections is a fiscally self-sustaining department, since permit fees cover department expenses, and no general fund dollars are used. Long term, the improvements and new construction add to the city's overall tax base. "Building inspections is a critical city service, and right now, based on our numbers, it's one of our busiest," said Michael Kerski, director of Planning and Development.

Inspector Jim Davis looks at a window during a recent inspection on a new home. The longtime inspector likes getting outdoors, meeting homeowners and contractors and visiting a variety of inspection sites. "It seems like every day I learn something new," he said.

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