Narragansett town building and zoning official Anthony L. Santilli Jr. used to bring in about $14,000 per month in building permit fees. In today’s market, that has jumped to as much as $30,000. Narragansett, like much of Southern Rhode Island is going through a building boom.
As of October, the town had issued 119 single-family building permits, up from just 61 issued last October, according to the latest statistics issued by the Rhode Island Builders Association and the U.S. Bureau of the Census.
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“We are on a record pace this year for single-family dwellings,” Santilli said. “It’s very busy in this town.”
Busy for two main reasons. For one, the town has extended sewers in the southern and northern ends of town, opening lots that could not be built upon before because of the requirements for septic system design.
The main reason, however, is the economy. Interest rates are low, and people are taking advantage of it, Santilli said. In addition to the new houses going up, many are knocking down old homes and building new ones. They’re also remodeling and adding on.
”With the low interest rates, people have decided to build,” he said.
Statewide, Rhode Island cities and towns may issue more building permits this year than in any other year this decade, according to the builders association.
As of October of this year, communities had issued 2,239 single-family building permits, up 129 from the 2,110 issued at the same time last year, the association reported. In 1998, a total of 2,542 single-family building permits were issued, the highest yearly amount recorded this decade. The next highest year was 1994, when 2,422 were given out.
Some communities have seen large increases. So far this year, Cranston has issued 183 single-family permits, compared to 165 last October, Cumberland has given out 150, versus last year’s 133, Coventry has issued 178, compared to 143, Scituate has given out 36, compared to 18, and North Providence has issued 40, compared to 14.
Other towns have had slight declines. Warwick has issued 110 this year, down 20 from last October’s 130. South Kingstown has dropped from 154 to 143, and Westerly has gone down from 111 to 102.
The town of South Kingstown has limited the number of building permits that it can issue at one time. As part of its zoning ordinance, no more than 320 building permits can be issued in any consecutive 24 months. Permits are issued by quarter, with 40 being the maximum.
Demand for those permits has been strong, said Tony Lachowicz, director of planning for the town. The town has issued all 40 permits each quarter since the quota was established a couple of years ago, he said.
Conversely, the town of Narragansett has no such quotas on building permits, Santilli said.
But the growth in South County communities such as Narragansett, North Kingstown, and Richmond is far greater than in the state’s cities. For example, Providence has issued just 16 single-family permits this year, two of which were given out in October. Pawtucket has issued 18 permits this year. East Providence has given out 31, while Newport has issued 11.
And overall, the total number of building permits issued in October went down, dropping from 263 last year to 247 this year. But it was also just the third month of the year to record fewer building permits than the year before. March of this year also fell short: Only 218 permits were issued, compared to 269 in March of 1998, while only 210 permits were given out in August, compared to the 216 distributed the August of the previous year.
Every other month this year, however, has seen an increase in the number of single-family permits issued. The two largest increases came in April, 265 versus 215, and June, 256 versus 237, the association reported.
