The municipality of Summerland issued 14 permits with a total construction value of $4,879,384 during March.

While this is down considerably from February, when the value of building permits topped $25.5 million, the number remains the highest dollar value for March within the past five years.

In March 2024, Summerland issued 21 building permits with a total construction value of $3,106,000, while in March 2023, nine building permits with a total construction value of $691,000 were issued.

In a report to Summerland council, Brad Dollevoet, director of development services for the municipality, said a major project in March was a new child care centre with a construction value of $3.6 million. This 73-unit facility is to be constructed on the grounds of Summerland Middle School.

Ground work has already started at this location and is expected to continue into the summer.

He added that a new private child care business has recently started operation and another is in the process of licensing approval.

鈥淭he District of Summerland has a lot of options for child care services found locally and is in a much better position than only a few years ago,鈥� Dollevoet said in his report.

Since the beginning of 2025, Summerland has issued 53 building permits with a total construction value of $37,188,034. By comparison, for all of 2024, Summerland issued 194 building permits with a total construction value of $35,189,132.

In addition to working with building permits and development projects, staff are also in preliminary internal discussions on a technical review of Summerland鈥檚 urban growth boundary.

The discussions at present involve key staff from the development services department, the advisory planning committee and consultants. Public engagement on this topic is expected for late April and early May, with open houses and a survey on urban growth and residential development expected in late April.