May home permits up in Lee

Builders in unincorporated Lee County, Bonita Springs and Fort Myers Beach pulled 303 permits for single-family houses, about 15 percent more than April's 264. May's single family residential construction is valued at $89 million, up 25 percent over April.

When compared to 2006, May's total is down by 612 permits, or about 67 percent.

The pace of commercial permitting remained strong in May with 26 permits valued at $42.1 million. Of that, about $16.5 million is related to a new Target at Coconut Point. The value of May's commercial permits is up nearly $15 million, or 55 percent, from April. And, it is up 90 percent from the May 2006 value of commercial permits, which was $22.1 million.

About 63 percent of the single-family home permits were for construction in Lehigh Acres.

Also in May, permits were issued for 102 multi-family units with a combined value of $21.7 million. That's down 36 percent from April's 160 units.

In the first five months of this year, Lee County issued a total of 14,874 building permits valued at approximately $1.1 billion. At this time last year, the county had issued 25,014 building permits valued at approximately $2.3 billion.

Lee County Community Development oversees planning, zoning, and development services, such as permitting, development and environmental review, building inspection and code enforcement in the unincorporated areas of the county, and permitting services for Bonita Springs and Fort Myers Beach.