Four months into the current fiscal year, Marshall County is experiencing a seismic rumbling that's a lot more than the man-made earthquakes coming from the gravel quarries... it's the reverberations of hammers and heavy equipment driving new construction.

Marshall County is poised to experience record growth in new home construction over the next few months. If the Marshall County Codes Office monthly reports average what is projected in the remaining eight months in fiscal year 2016-17, it will surge 57 percent higher than the previous year. Presently at 92 new home construction permits, the total for the 2016-2017 fiscal year may grow to 276 by the end of June 2017 if the monthly averages for July through October 2016 continue at the same pace. Comparing to 2015-16, just 176 permits were issued for new homes.

As a point of history, 94 new home permits were issued in 2013-14 fiscal year in Marshall County, which were followed by 130 in 2014-15. As stated previously, if the monthly averages for this fiscal year reported through October 2016 apply to the following eight months, then new home growth will see a 194 percent rise above new home permits just three years prior.

"We know it is coming and we're just trying to get ready for it," Don Nelson, Building Official/Zoning Administrator, said. "We will be hiring new help, and new guidelines for the planning commission and engineering for new subdivisions."

It is quite possible that too few new home sites can be prepared to keep up with demand in the near future. "It's a reality right now that we have contractors starving for lots," Nelson said. "When a new subdivision comes in it needs to be shovel-ready. The Rolling Hills subdivision is a benchmark. The planning process is really improved. When the planning commission approves a subdivision, they want to know that they won't be having problems."

Marshall County Codes is working to improve future homeowners' satisfaction with the land upon which their houses sit. Future developers will be required to put a house's septic field completely within the borders of a house's lot border. Previously, developers could stretch a septic field onto an adjacent lot. What this meant is that some new house buyers, when they had a pile of closing documents shuffled under their excited pen, they often didn't realize that their neighbor's septic field extended onto their lot. Nelson shared an anecdote of a local resident who planned to build a garage on their lot, but couldn't build on their own land when they were notified that a neighbor's septic field invaded their boundary.

Commercial construction is also anticipated to grow this fiscal year in the county. During 2015-16, businesses acquired 47 building permits. Thus far, 18 building permits have been issued between July and October. If this average continues, that number will grow to 54 permits by fiscal year's end. That equates to 15 percent growth.

Addition and remodeling permits are projected to rise this year, too. Thus far, 25 new permits have been issued through October. Again, if the trend continues at the same pace that will produce 19 percent growth over the previous fiscal year.

While new housing and commercial construction is on the rise, other building permit types appear to be falling this fiscal year. Only four permits for new trailers have been issued through October. That compares to 13 in 2015-16 countywide. Permits for trailers are on a downward slide over the previous three years. In 2013-2014, 19 permits were issued, and, 10 were issued to developers a year later.

The commissioners set up restrictions a few years ago making it just as cost effective to set up a double-wide as a single-wide," Nelson said. "It's just about as inexpensive to build a home, so the trend is more toward conventional style homes."

Miscellaneous construction permits, such as garages, seem to be lagging behind this fiscal year. So far, only 29 permits have been issued this year, whereas 100 were acquired in the county during 2015-16. It is unknown why miscellaneous construction is taking a dip in the county this year. "They fluctuate," Nelson speculated. "What we're talking about is pole barns and detached garages. We're seeing more houses built with attached garages."

The flurry of building activity in the county has created a prosperous tax revenue source. If the average of the first four months continues for the remainder of the fiscal year total AFT will rise above $340,000 during 2016-17. This represents a 160 percent rise above the $131,070 collected by Codes in 2013-14.