By Alyssa Schnugg
News editor
Oxford saw an increase in the number of homes and businesses being built in 2022.
According to Oxford Building Official Johnathan Mizell, there were 414 residential construction permits issued in 2022, up from 303 in 2021.
There were 99 commercial construction permits issued in 2022, up from 80 in 2021.
The total amount of estimated construction costs of the projects receiving permits was $159,536,092 in 2022, a big jump from $91,713,044 in 2021.
With more permits being issued, that means more permit fees the city collects. In 2022, the city collected $845,515 in permit fees, up from $613,106 in 2021.
“We are definitely starting to see more development coming in,” Mizell said Monday at the monthly Oxford Planning Commission meeting. “Especially in residential construction.”
Mizell said he was going to be asking the Board of Aldermen next month to hire an additional building inspector to keep up with the increase.
“We definitely have a need for it,” he said.
Senior Planner Ben Requet provided the Commission with a 2022 Planning Commission yearly review as well.
He reported that in 2022, the Commission heard 114 cases (117 were filed but three were withdrawn). Of those, 44 percent were commercial, 55 percent were residential, and 10 percent were institutional.
The Commission approved 95 percent, of the requests that came before them. Five were denied, three were withdrawn and one was tabled.
About 32 percent of the cases were for special exceptions; 25 percent were for site plan approvals; 22 percent were for subdivision requests; 19 percent were for variances and 2 percent were for rezoning requests.
