Brooks construction value hits $14.8M, up $5M from 2025 as housing projects multiply

Brooks recorded $14.8 million in construction permit value through the end of September, about $5 million more than the same nine months of 2025, city staff told the regular council meeting, with a 32-unit apartment project on 11th Street West leading a wave of new housing applications.

Director Tiffin, presenting the development and building permit quarterly report on behalf of development control officer Bailey Boulet, said the year-to-date construction value of $14,811,000 compared to $9,425,000 at the same point in 2025 — a difference of roughly $5 million. The city logged 128 permits for all of 2025; by the end of September 2026 it was already well on track to match or exceed that total.

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The third quarter — July through September — produced 47 new dwelling units across several project types. Tiffin said those included one large multi-unit residential development, one duplex application, two multi-unit dwelling applications (a fourplex and one other), with no applications for apartments, mixed-use, single dwellings or secondary suites in that same quarter. The previous quarter, April through June, saw 11 applications for single-family detached homes.

The 32-unit project at 11th Street West was the largest single item. Tiffin said the property had previously been redesignated from future urban development zoning to residential high density before the application came forward. Other projects either proposed or under development included an eight-unit residential building on 17th Street, a four-unit attached housing development at 216 Centre Street, and a duplex on Meadowbrook Drive.

"We're seeing several new multi-residential projects currently under review or in the development stage, which is very exciting because we have been in a bit of a housing pinch for some time," Tiffin said during the council meeting.

Total construction value for the third quarter alone was just over $4 million from 63 permits. The second quarter posted $6.6 million from 40 permits. Staff received 48 building permit applications between July and September, down from 56 in the previous quarter. There were 36 development permits received in the third quarter — 32 for permitted uses, three for discretionary uses and one requiring council approval — compared with 41 in the second quarter.

Coun. Johnson asked whether the 11th Street development would finally result in the road being paved. Tiffin said the matter would be addressed through a development agreement with developers on both sides of the street, and that developers would likely be required to pave to the edge of their own parcels, with discussions ongoing about whether they might go further. Tiffin confirmed that full city construction standards — curb, gutter, sidewalks and paving — would apply.

Council accepted the quarterly development and building permit report as information, on a motion by Coun. Nesbitt. The vote was carried.

The next quarterly development and building permit report is expected to cover the period through December 2026.