02/21/12 Building Permit activity in Marshall County was down from2010 according to the 2011 Annual Report. At total of 317 permits were issued including last year compared to 371 in 2010. The value of those permits also decreased from $13,949,000 in 2010 to $9,215,000 in 2011. This was the lowest number in 15 years. The actual permit fees increased over the past couple of years. In 2010 fees paid totaled $24,510 while last year it rose to $26,305. When taking into consideration copy fees, maps, hearing fees, subdivision fees, contractor registration, and town collections the grant total of income went from $41,370 to $41,894.
Looking at statistics, new home permits were low again with 26. This is the second year in a row with below trend line home permits. The annual reports notes, “This could be attributed to the present economy and our 2007 zoning ordinance.”
Growth in the townships was more even this year. North, German, Polk and West experienced almost the same number of permits.
County Plan Commission cases were only 11 in 2011 while the year before that number was 14. Last year they had 2 subdivision re-plats, 1 vacation, 7 ordinance amendments, and 1 PUD.
The County Board of Zoning Appeals had a total of 33 cases plus one review hearing. This is three more cases than 2010. There were a total of 1 variance of use, 14 special use, 13 variance of development standards, 1 administrative appeal and 4 termination hearings.
The violation report for the county included 24 for waste and or debris, 5 building without permits, 4 uses not permitted in district, 1 illegal off-premise sign, 3 unsafe buildings and 10 inoperable vehicles. County Plan Director Ralph Booker noted, “Some of the above violations occurred on the same property since they had multiple violations at the same location. All violations created more than one site visit. One violation took at least 10 site visits to verify compliance.”
