BIA Advocate

Director Tracie Davies is planning for an increase in final inspections and Certificates of Occupancy for mid-June for builders who are trying to get new homes closed by the June 30th deadline for tax credit customers.

Please be in touch with me if you anticipate any particular challenges with your homes, and I will connect you with Director Davies.

Nationally, according to the latest U.S. Commerce Department numbers released on April 16, nationwide housing starts rose for a third consecutive month in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 626,000 units.

Permit issuance for new housing construction rose by a solid 7.5% in March – homes that be completed after expiration of the home buyer tax credit. Locally, the City of Columbus reports a 31% increase in first quarter permits over last year and almost equal to the first quarter of three years ago.

Delaware County SF permits totaled 113 for the first quarter, an increase of 69% over 2009 first quarter. Franklin County (excluding Columbus) permits totaled 125 for 2010 first quarter, an increase of 62% over 2009 first quarter.

Multi-family permits have increased from 86 (1st quarter 2009) to 492 (1st quarter 2010) in Franklin County. Licking County SF permits more than doubled from last year 38 (2009) to 87 (2010).

Last week of the Parade. If you haven’t noticed it, you must have been on vacation at some out of state location. It’s been very successful so far, with attendance really exceeding expectations and great media coverage (141 minutes of TV coverage alone). Over half the Parade homes are in contract. We are looking forward to a strong finish this week, with Sunday being the final day. And we are already making notes on what we want to implement in the 2010 Parade (look for an announcement on that Friday).

While the Parade has been going on, the BIA has remained involved in other activities to support our members:

• The Political Action Committee of the BIA has continued its fundraising work on behalf of our industry and we will have 100 people attending a Clipper’s game at the new Huntington Ball Park on Wednesday. 
• We continue our work with a committee meeting on Thursday to develop a new conservation zoning classification for Franklin County.
• We await follow up from our recent meeting with AEP, OHBA and PUCO staff on electric line extension charges.
• And we celebrate the Ohio Supreme Court’s recent ruling which upheld our position on prevailing wage applicability in public/private partnership developments.

See you at the Parade between now and Sunday!

In one of my first posts, I discussed how the Delaware County Commissioners were looking for an extremely needed Economic Development Director. Today, I want to applaud the Commissioners for persevering at landing Gus Comstock, former Economic Development Director for the City of Delaware, for the position.

This position is valuable to all in Central Ohio and the fact that it had been vacant for 18 months was unacceptable. Good for the new commissioners to remain focused on solving this immediate challenge.  Here’s a recap of the story from This Week news.

Development post County ups ante to secure Comstock
Saturday,  April 4, 2009 7:03 PM
By CANDACE PRESTON-COY
ThisWeek Staff Writer
Delaware city development director Gus Comstock — who last week turned down the job of Delaware County development director at $87,000 a year — will take it at $91,000.
County commissioners Tommy Thompson and Todd Hanks on March 30 voted to increase Comstock’s pay offer to $91,000.
Comstock is too valuable to the future of Delaware County to let a few thousand dollars keep him from accepting the county’s economic development coordinator position, Thompson said.
On his application for the county position, Comstock asked for a salary of $92,000. His base salary as Delaware development director is $84,000 a year.
Comstock said the county job is a “tremendous opportunity” and he looks forward to playing a broader role in county development.
Commission vice president Ken O’Brien voted against the new offer, saying it was not fair to offer Comstock more money, when the commissioners are asking others to cut their budgets.
“I want to know where the money will come from to pay him,” O’Brien said. “We have a (budget) shortfall and I hate to take it from other people who have been effective for the city.”
Thompson said he understands O’Brien’s concerns but the county stands to lose more money than the extra $4,000 in salary through lost economic development opportunities.
Comstock can hit the ground running, he said, because he already knows who is interested in locating to the county and who could be persuaded to locate here.
Hanks said the immediate answer about where the money will come from is out of the $313,000 in carryover funds the county expects to have at the end of 2009.
That amount represents less than 1 percent of the county’s annual budget, O’Brien said, when county policy states they should have a 20 percent carryover to protect the county’s bond rating. “I think Mr. Comstock is a highly qualified individual but we’re robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
“I am real concerned that for 18 months we have not had an economic coordinator. … We have also not spent money for a 911 director,” Thompson said.
“If we continue to do this with these critical positions, we will find ourselves behind the 8 ball and we’ll pay for it for the next 10 years,” he said.
“We are at the cusp when this thing (economic development in the county) breaks open. … We need to have someone in place who understands the county,” Thompson said.
After the vote O’Brien said he will “do all I can to welcome Mr. Comstock. … There are a great many things that can be accomplished in this county. I look forward to working with Mr. Comstock.”

Today we had a terrific turnout at the Economic Forecast where Ken Danter from the Danter Company and Bill Lafayette from the Columbus Chamber presented some thought-provoking analysis to our members and about 50 public officials.

In this video, we asked Ken to summarize his findings and afterwards, we gathered feedback from attendees.

BIA Economic Forecast from Bia Advocate on Vimeo.

This year’s BIA Economic Forecast breakfast is on Friday, February 27 at the Bridgewater Conference Center in Powell. We have invited public officials from around central Ohio to attend and 50 are currently planning to attend.

This is a great opportunity to meet and share your opinion about the housing market with them while learning about some key economic news for our area.  To register, go to http://www.biahomebuilders.com/bia-events.

A note for your contact files.  We have two new city managers to welcome. Dublin and Grove City’s new managers, Terry Foegler and Philip Honsey, respectively, will begin their duties in the next 30 days.  We look forward to working with these gentlemen as they begin to provide new leadership for their respective communities.