The October summary from the Code Enforcement Division of the Moore County Planning Department shows that the number of permits issued rose 13 percent above the number for the same period in 2003. Of those permits, the number of residential permits climbed 21.9 percent.
County Planning Director Richard Smith released the monthly report to the Moore County Planning Board at a November meeting.
The county issued 48 permits in October. That number includes 26 for residences, 20 for alterations and additions and two for commercial buildings. The total for the year, through October, is 521, compared to 461 for the same period last year.
Estimated value of these buildings exceeds $8.5 million, bringing the total for the year to $64.9 million. That’s an increase of 38.6 percent over the previous year.
ECONOMY — Issuance of building permits is among several factors studied by economists and financial experts in determining the health or weakness of the economy.
Tucked into the report are hints that the economy may be on the rebound from the slump of the past 2˝ years.
Although numbers went up for residences and commercial buildings, there was actually a reduction in the number of permits issued for alterations and additions, which was down 1.4 percent for the year to date. Another factor is a 20.5 percent drop in the number of electrical permits issued for manufactured homes.
The trend in hard economic times is for people to improve existing housing or to seek less costly dwellings, such as mobile homes.
Overall, the total number of other permits, such as plumbing, heating and electrical, dropped by 5.7 percent with the October statistics.
Moore County handles building inspections for all unincorporated areas of the county and also for eight of the 11 municipalities.
STOREY — Dr. Dolores B. Storey, retired from a private psychotherapy practice, will deliver an entertaining program, not a program about politics, when she addresses the Moore County Democratic Women at a Christmas party Saturday, Dec. 4.
That’s the word from Bobbie Burrell, a spokesperson for the Democratic Women.
Storey has served as a consultant and lecturer for in-service workshops around the world, including Tokyo, Kenya, Brazil, Belgium and the former Soviet Union. She is a graduate of Michigan State University, where she also earned her doctorate. She received her master’s from Western Michigan University.
Now retired and living in Pinehurst, she is the widow of a veterinarian and has five children and six grandchildren.
Her topic, “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Men,” should entertain men as well as women, she told Burrell.
The party will be a luncheon beginning at noon at the Holiday Inn in Southern Pines. The cost is $15 per person, and there will be a cash bar. Reservations must be called to Tonia Camina at 692-7866 no later than Wednesday, Dec. 1.
COUNTY YULE — Moore County employees are receiving Chamber Checks as their Christmas gifts again this year.
The checks, equal to $50 apiece, can be redeemed through almost 100 participating businesses.
The county discontinued holding a Christmas party several years ago when the number of employees became so large that it was difficult to find a meeting place large enough to accommodate everyone, along with guests.
The cost, estimated at $31,000, is already built into the 2004-05 budget.
The county commissioners approved the 2004 gift certificate plan as part of the consent agenda at the Nov. 15 meeting.
