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Waiting for this day to come

By GARY PINNELL

Highlands Today

Published: July 1, 2009

SEBRING - From 11 a.m. to noon Tuesday, only two customers came inside the Highlands County Building Department: a man who's building a fence, and another man who actually wanted to find the Sebring Building Department.

Building Administrator Helen McKinney expected all that to change on Wednesday morning. She had a list of nine projects for which she expected to sell building permits.

It's been deathly slow at the building department: because the commissioners were talking about suspending impact fees, no permits have been issued for the past two months to build single family houses.

From January through April, 11, permits were pulled to build new homes, according to statistics kept by Carol Shackelford. In the same five months, 27 mobile home permits were granted. A few years ago, 23 permits were issued in an average week.

Three workers already have been laid off. It's still unofficial, but two of the four people in the office on Tuesday expected to lose their jobs when the 2009-10 budget year starts in September.

The difference, of course, is the one-year moratorium on impact fees, which will happen on July 1. Highlands County commissioners received a standing ovation from the audience after they voted 5-0 two weeks ago to suspend impact fees for a year, starting July 1.

The suspension of impact fees has sparked a flurry of calls and requests for permits, Shackelford said. "A lot of people wanted to know about our Website."

County Commissioner Guy Maxcy, who tried to suspend impact fees a year ago but couldn't find any support, has faith that the moratorium will result in jobs.

"A lot of folks were skeptical about it," Maxcy said. "By golly, it's working. Highlands County is at the lowest point we've ever been: no work, not anything out there."

Maxcy isn't sure the arc from the suspension of impact fees will continue its upward trend. "We just don't know."

Mike Secor, a contractor with Trinity Development Corp., has been advocating the suspension of impact fees. He thinks there will be an immediate surge of single family homes built, and that commercial permits will be issued in a few months.

"They just stopped anything in the planning stage," Secor said. "It takes a while to plan these things."

Maxcy is certain that since these nine permits were purchased, over the next four to 12 months, contractors will hire 100 subcontractors and workers for each job: carpet layers, carpenters, electricians.

"Many families are going to get fed," Maxcy predicted.

Waiting List

Building officials expect to issue permits today for these projects:

ContractorOwnerProjectCostAddress

Enviro-TechBrian Royoffice$15,00015055 US 98, Lorida

ChapmanToby the Clownaddition$66,500109 W. Interlake, Lake Placid

PathfinderPasargod Holdingshopping center$650,0007441 US 27 N., Sebring

SpiresChuck Smalley5828 Olga$164,8805828 Olga, Sebring

PathfinderJames Eganhouse$201,3305522 Sopera, Sebring

Carter Const.Hernandezhouse$113,000623 Dian Ave., Sebring

HeartlandHeartland familyhouse$102,900166 Woodside Dr., Lake Placid

MielkeC. Onealroom$52,8504411 Bunker, Sebring