What do BMC staff, a carpeting installer, cabinet maker and lumber company have in common? They all use BMC’s online Building Permit Data System in the course of their work. BMC staff uses this information as a leading indicator of new regional development patterns. Specialty contractors, retailers and providers of services use the data to locate potential customers and grow their businesses.

Every new construction project and any significant improvement to an existing structure is required to have a building permit issued by the county or incorporated municipality where the work is being done. Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties issue permits in the Baltimore region, as well as Baltimore City, the City of Annapolis and the towns of Aberdeen, Bel Air and Havre de Grace.

The Baltimore Metropolitan Council’s predecessor organizations began compiling the region’s building permit data and organizing it into a standardized database in the 1970s. The resulting information, collected from all permits with a value of $10,000 or more, provides a continual record of plans for new and renovated residential, commercial/industrial and institutional building projects.

Building permit data has been offered online since 2002. "At that time each jurisdiction submitted paper copies of all their permits," explained Mary Logan, Manager of the Regional Information Center. "BMC staff entered information from each permit into a computerized database by hand."

All the major jurisdictions now submit their permit data electronically. This provides more complete information in a more timely manner, and reduces the likelihood of error in adding a permit to the database.

"Converting to electronic transmission was a complicated process," Logan added. "As each jurisdiction’s data comes in, it goes through a translation process before it can be uploaded into the BMC database."

Quality control is done on a continuing basis as data is received. A BMC staff member makes a phone call to the originating jurisdiction if information on a permit needs to be clarified. Additional quality controls are performed before the online database is updated on Friday afternoons.

Summaries of residential and non-residential data for each year back to 1998 are available at www.baltometro.org. Older data are archived on paper in the Regional Information Center and can be viewed by appointment. Monthly and quarterly reports are available by subscription. Subscribers may also access the entire online database.

New construction is classified as residential, non-residential or mixed use. Non-residential construction includes institutional, industrial, educational, and religious facilities as well as warehouses, offices, utilities, and retail establishments. Mixed use construction combines residential and non-residential units.

The additions, alternations and renovations category includes both residential and non-residential construction. Demolition is included in this category as well.

"The online system provides quick and easy access to recently issued construction permits and allows the user to look at specific residential or non-residential projects," explained Dunbar Brooks, BMC’s Manager of Data Development. "A subscriber can review construction authorization in a number of different ways: by location, value, builder, date of permit or type of structure."

"The quarterly reports provide a summary of construction activity throughout the Baltimore region," Brooks continued. "The narrative portion of the report describes what is going on, and maps highlight the greatest concentrations of different kinds of construction activity."

Customized reports are also available by special one-time request, and are priced on a custom basis. "For example, someone may be interested in seeing all residential permits in a given zip code for the last seven or eight years," Logan said. Custom reports cannot be generated from monthly data.

The price of a subscription, $495 annually, has not changed since the service was first offered in 2002. Annual summary reports are available for free online.

Several local jurisdictions post building permit data online for free. However, BMC’s information is more comprehensive. "BMC’s Building Permit Data System is a one-stop shop for the entire region," Logan added.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that new housing construction was affected by the economic downturn in 2007 along with the sales of new and existing homes. Just what were the effects?

The Baltimore region permitted 5,920 new residential units in 2007, 25.3 percent fewer than in 2006.

Anne Arundel and Howard counties led the region in the numbers of new residential permits issued, with 1,851 and 1,390 respectively.

The number of single family homes permitted decreased by 18.3 percent, to 4,586.

The largest numbers of single family homes were in Howard (1,115) and Anne Arundel (1.055) counties.

At the RPD (Regional Planning District) level, the largest numbers of permits issued were in Edgewood-Joppa (360 homes), Jessup-Severn (333 homes) and Elkridge (317 homes). These RPDs are near Aberdeen Proving Ground and Fort George G. Meade, which will both experience growth related to Base Realignment and Consolidation (BRAC).

The number of new multi-family units permitted in the region declined by 42.3 percent to 1,334.

Anne Arundel County led the region by permitting 796 units and Howard County followed with 275 units.

At the RPD level, the most new multi-family units were permitted in Crownsville (389 units), Jessup-Severn (280 units) and Govans-Northwood (85 units).

The value of residential remodeling declined by 12.7 percent throughout the region, to $538.9 million.

The greatest investments in existing residential units occurred in Baltimore City ($145.9 million) and Baltimore County ($135.5 million).

The value of new non-residential projects rose to $1.58 billion, a 23.1 percent increase from 2006.

Baltimore City was the regional leader in this category with estimates valued at $708.5 million. Much of this work was associated with new construction at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Kennedy Krieger Institute and Mercy Health Services, Inc.

Anne Arundel County was second with $341.3 million, much of it associated with the Annapolis Town Center.

Howard County was third with an estimated $241.4 million in new construction.

The estimated value of new hospitals, group homes and senior centers was $563.7 million, exceeding the value of retail/commercial and office buildings. Cost estimates in health care facilities increased 302.6 percent from 2006. One project, a new clinical building at Johns Hopkins Hospital, with estimated costs of $460 million, accounted for most of the permit value in this category.

Retail/commercial estimated were the second highest category, with a total of $303.7 invested, a 17.7 percent increase from 2006. This category was followed by office and bank buildings ($245.7 million), industrial structures ($151.8 million), and school construction ($151.7 million). Permits for hotels and motels decreased the most from 2006, to $35.4 million, an 84.3 percent decline.

Non-residential remodeling increased in value by 15.9 percent to $1.33 billion.

Baltimore City led the region with values totaling $432.5 million, a 21.8 percent gain. Baltimore County followed with $382.2 million (an 11.5 percent decrease). Anne Arundel County had the third highest value in this category with $223.5 million, a 51.4 percent increase.