Le Mars Building Construction Was Down In 2020

(Le Mars) — Le Mars city council members heard a report from city building and code enforcement officer, Greg Smidt regarding the construction of homes and commercial properties during 2020. Smidt informed the council, the number of building permits were down this past year compared to previous years. Smidt says COVID-19 virus may be partially to blame for the downturn.

Smidt says multiple-housing units were also down in 2020 compared to 2019.


As for commercial development, Smidt says many of the structures that were constructed are long-term storage facilities.

The city’s building and code enforcement officer says a major commercial development is the new Kwik-Star convenience store, currently under construction where the old Le Mars Truck Stop had been located. Smidt reviewed the statistics for the city’s income revenue from the issuing of building permits.

Residential fees amounted to $33,923 in 2020, and the residential construction value was listed at $5,300,000 compared to the $8.368 million from 2019. Commercial fees was slightly above $17,000 in 2020 and the commercial value was just below $5 million dollars at $4,960,000.