BJ has a story today about building permits being down again in St. Charles County. With all the growth it had to happen at some point, but it's maybe another reminder of how some places are hit harder than others when there's a housing slump. (BTW- are rehabs in the city counted when looking at building permits?)



St. Charles County building permits (Jan-July):

2004: 2,525

2005: 2,322

2006: 2,012

2007: 1,853



The same story shows St. Louis City permits down from 612 in 2006 to 557 in 2007. I'd guess that 557 is still well above 2004 and 2005 levels?

O'FALLON, MO. — Fields of dreams are eroding into fields of weeds in some metro communities.



O'Fallon officials don't have to look very far to see that the downturn in the new housing market could be an ugly, runny mess.

(snip)



In Wentzville, three subdivisions with plans for 100 to 500 homes sit mostly empty, with just a few completed houses...



The proposed rules also contain a revegetation policy that would require 75 percent of each square foot of property to have some sort of stabilizing plant growth within weeks of grading a site.

Yuck -- can't imagining a much worse neighbor, for who know how long, than a big dirt lot. Imagine when St. Charles Co. becomes the next 1990's North County in terms of residents moving out and "up".

The Business Journal has an interesting piece on St. Charles County in the current issue that specifically mentions growth in Illinois as the biggest competitor for residents. Just the fact this is being mentioned really says something as mainstream media is often quite behind the curve. The story is couched in "growth over there doesn't mean less growth here," but that is exactly what it means. It's mentioned in the article that further western and northern growth depends on infrastructure being built - highways, sewers and water mains. The story concludes by saying "the market will tell us how far west and north developments will go. And realize that for everything you get in terms of lower prices (land), you give something up in convenience." These guys sound smart. It's also noted that until the MRB is built, the lack of an additional connection to the metro east will limit development to some extent (nice call in the other thread Little E - mentioned that MO could be stalling with the bridge on purpose for this reason (and to the detriment of the entire MSA - IMO)).

As mentioned in the New Town St. Charles thread, villageidiot:



New Town is not in the 100year flood plain but at or above the 500 year flood plain where development is allowed. The area in which New Town is located was not flooded in the 1993 great flood. So, please get your facts straight, New Town is not flood plain but former farmland.